Long way to happy
by pinsel90
Summary: Survival in the Enchanted Forest wasn't easy but Emma Swan knew how to achieve this easily in an unexpected and surprising way. That was until everything changed. How was she supposed to survive, if she suddenly had to deal with an intrusive fairy and fight back the approaches of a pirate with extremely and incredibly blue eyes? Could she trust him or would she lose herself trying?
1. The woman not deserving help

1. The woman not deserving help

"Hey, who are ya?"

She turned around in her improvised bedding of leaves and her coat ignoring the rude voice talking to her. She didn't even need to check, if she was the one being addressed with these words. She was the only person lying on the ground in the middle of the street. Actually she was surprised the question hadn't been "what are you doing there" instead of "who are ya", since it would have been the first thing to ask, if it had been up to her in this kind of situation. Maybe that guy wasn't that smart? Well, that could be of advantage for her, since it would make her task a lot easier. But on the other hand you never knew how such an idiot would react, if he had to face real trouble. Sometimes those idiots really could be dumb enough to bring not just themselves in danger but others as well, because they never considered the consequences of their stupid ideas. Some people might call it creativity, but usually it was just foolishness.

He proofed her right, when he decided to kick her when she didn't answer him, which didn't just make her angry but dangerous for him on top. His foot hit her kidneys and caused a momentum of pain running up her back.

She breathed in heavily to show that it had hurt, while he repeated his question. As dumb as he was, it was a good decision to keep him safe and calm, to make him believe he had the upper hand in this. Maybe he wouldn't freak out so much if he believed that. It wouldn't be the first time this would help her to do her job.

"Are you already dead", he asked and laughed at someone standing behind him. Another proof for her theory of him being an idiot. Asking such a question was useless, since a smart person would never ask something like that, if he believed the questioned one was still alive and if he believed he was dead, it would be useless, since the dead usually didn't answer any questions at all.

The problem was the person standing somewhere near him. Since she was lying with her back to them, there was no way to see them. She couldn't find out who it was nor if he was actually dangerous or not.

"Let's throw him aside and carry on, Tappert", the stranger said a little annoyed. Fear was shaking his voice like somebody mixing a drink.

Another fool? She couldn't be sure of it. But she knew what she would do as soon as her plan would start to work out. She had planned everything. But you never knew if such a plan would work out the way it been intended in the end, since the other party could change everything through his pure reaction and his intelligence quotient. She sighed inwardly. Usually her plans didn't work out and most of the times she ended up in real danger because of it.

"No", her victim said just according to the things she had heard about him in the first place, "that would be boring. Let's have a little fun."

"I don't know, Tappert", the other man said, "we've got clear orders. Playing around would take too much time."

But Tappert obviously didn't want to listen to his friend. Emma almost heard the fabric of his trousers move, when she noticed his movements through his shadow in front of her. He was going to kick her back again. When he pulled his right leg back, she simply rolled against his left one and disturbed his balance. He fell over her without making any sound. Maybe it was because he was too surprised to have his victim actually fighting back? She didn't care and she didn't have the time to.

Still lying on the ground she used the ten seconds of shock the two men shared to turn on her back and jump to her feet. As soon as her head left the ground a bulletin hit the spot she had been lying at and send peaces of earth flying through the air.

Emma stepped on Tappert's right wrist to stop him from reaching for his own gun while she watched his friend throwing his gun away. She pulled a knife out of her belt and threw it at him before he was able to reach his own one. It hit his right arm and slid under his skin like in butter. He screamed and fell to his knees while trying to pull it out again.

In the meantime Tappert had used his left hand to reach his own knife and cut her lower leg. Emma stumbled back and ignored the pain that was spreading from her wound through her whole body. She was lucky he had only cut her instead of stabbing her.

Emma kicked the knife out of his hand and punched him in the face. It was hard enough to knock him out. After that she ran over to his friend. He had gotten back to his feet, but he had been too slow to draw his sword. Instead of using it, he used his fist to welcome her.

It took Emma a painful moment to see anything again. The pain was rushing through her head, tears shot into her eyes and if she wasn't mistaken, the warm thing on her nose was her own blood. This wasn't even close to what she had planned in the first place. She didn't like it. And it became worse.

The next punch hit her stomach as hard as she stumbled back to their carriage. His hands ended up at her neck when he was about to choke her. Emma's vision cleared again and instead of trying to stop him, she took an as deep breath as possible, held it and rammed her thumbs into his eyes. He screamed in pain and his grip around her neck loosened a little, but she was still missing breath. So she reached behind her head praying to god she'd find something useful, grabbed something that felt suspiciously like a bottle and pushed it as hard at his head as its glass broke. The man let go of her, stumbled back and fell to his knees, before he collapsed on the ground just like Tappert had before.

Emma steadied herself at the carriage, holding her neck where he had squeezed it before. She pulled the air greedy into her hurting lungs and ignored the stabbing pain this caused in her neck. Her gaze wandered to the donkey that was bound to the carriage and chewed grass just like nothing had happened at all. To her feet surrounding her was lying broken glass from the bottle she had used before. It smelled of rum. Pirates.

* * *

It was disappointing. After all the work she had had with catching them, getting them on their own carriage and after being hurt like she had in the process (not to mention all the trouble she had had with that stupid donkey, but nobody usually used to appreciate something like that as it seemed) she hadn't just lost a knife, because it had still been sticking in one of the men's arms. No, the guards had lowered her win through specious reasons like "they are hurt" and "we can't ask them anything now for at least four hours and have to mend their wounds". Emma snorted. The text on the wanted posters had been "dead or alive" and not "healthy and conscious". It was disgusting that they would simply belittle her work and all the troubles she had had with them for being a woman. She was certain that this was the actual reason for their reaction besides saving money for themselves. It had happened before and she already knew it would happen again.

But she had accepted the prize of what she would have earned for one of them for both together, when they had come up with what her own head was worth even after being set free again for so many years already. She knew they would just come up with an story to explain arresting her to collect her old bounty. It was better to be free with a bit money in her hands, than being imprisoned for stealing like a magpie. And she had been able to empty Tappert's and his friends pockets before she had delivered them to the guards.

In the end she had been lucky that stranger, who had been traveling with Tappert and had almost killed her, had been wanted at all. If not she wouldn't just have earned even less, but she would have had to find a solution for him as well. Not to mention that she would have had to question herself for it. He had nearly killed her after all and as far as she was concerned he deserved his bounty for that alone.

Emma stopped in front of a wall further down the market. There were hanging the latest wanted posters, but as far as she was able to judge, there weren't any new ones. Some of the men and women had just committed enough crimes to increase their bounties. It was disappointing that the one person she was looking for hadn't been on any wanted posters for at least two months. It was annoying.

"Interested", a woman to her left asked curious and mirrored her position in front of the wanted posters.

Emma needed a moment to decide if she would answer at all, "why do you ask? Could I find you here between all those pictures if I kept checking on them?"

"I doubt that", the woman said and checked the faces starring down on them from the posters, "I've never been part of this and I'm not planning to in the future."

Emma rolled her eyes and faced her. She was strange. Even though she was dressed like an ordinary woman what suited her well, everything she was wearing was of an almost sparkling pink. Had she believed her to possibly be another bounty hunter she was proofed wrong now.

Emma frowned, "who are you?"

The woman smiled at her friendly, "my name is Nova. I'm a fairy."

"Don't get me wrong", she said slowly and stepped back like she had just told her to be a disgusting troll, "but you're not really looking like a… a…"

"Fairy", Nova finished her sentence for her and smiled in an understanding way, "that's because you wouldn't have listened to me for even one second if I would."

The fairy noticed the bruise in Emma's face where the pirate had hit her, the fingerprints in her neck where he had tried to throttle her and the cut at her left leg, "seems like you really do need my help, don't you think?"

"No", Emma said in an deciding way, turned on her heels and stumbled away from her like she had just ended their conversation, ignoring the stabbing pain in her leg. She'd need to clean the wound soon, since it was dirty enough for two men and the dirt could cause an infection, which she didn't need at all.

"Oh come on", Nova said almost begging and followed her anyway, "your are my fist person in need. You have no idea what it took for me to finally be allowed to help people at all. Please don't let me down now. Please give me a chance."

"Shouldn't you be the one to support others and not the other way around?"

"If you let me, I'll do it."

Emma stopped as suddenly as the fairy almost stumbled into her, "wait. I'd be your first…client?"

"Yes", Nova answered her nervously.

"And you are a fairy", Emma stated rhetorically.

Nova nervous as she was answered anyway, "yes."

Emma sighed before she almost burst into laughter, "that explains everything."

"Em… what exactly", the fairy asked confused.

"Nova, fairies only help "good" people, don't they?"

"Yes only the good ones", she agreed not noticing the trap she was hopping in at all.

"Well", Emma continued, "I'm not."

"What?"

"Good", she said and rolled her eyes.

"Why do you think that", Nova asked and stared at her like she was surprised and worried for her, which was quite surprising for Emma, who had expected her to react differently. She had expected her to simply disappear again or, since she was a fairy, to burst into tears for being wrong with her first attempt to help someone or at least to apologize for it for several times. But this was just like the fairy was trying to study her. Well, she wasn't an project and she didn't want to be analyzed by a fairy who was just starting to help others. She didn't want to be a project for a newbie.

And for sure she didn't want to spread her whole life's story to a fairy, just to explain why she was the wrong person to be taken care of by a fairy, who didn't even know how to do her job. And she didn't want to tell her how she had grown up on the streets without any family, being an orphan, always lonely, sometimes confused and most of the time stealing in order to survive a life, she had to remind herself that it was worth it over and over again.

What did she know? She had been a fairy for at least the past twenty-seven years and she had never had to live like that. She had had someone to care for her and to allow her to grow up as an ordinary little girl surrounded by flowers, unicorns and rainbows.

"I'm a thief", Emma stated dryly and kept on walking already expecting her to follow her anyway.

She was proofed right, "you're a bounty hunter. There is a huge difference you know? And even if it wasn't like that not everyone who steals isn't worthy a fairies help. Sometimes it's needed anyway or exactly because of that."

Emma stopped again and sighed annoyed.

"And I'm willing to do anything it takes to earn a bounty even if it means to kill", she added coldly to finally get rid of her.

Nova stared at her for a second. She seemed to be shocked. Good. Than she'd leave her alone again soon.

"No you're not", the fairy said slowly, just as she wanted to leave her behind once more, "you wouldn't kill if it wasn't necessary to protect somebody else."

Emma looked at her skeptically before her gaze turned into something quite telling, "well, I know someone who'd really be worth to be killed and I'd gladly do it myself even though it would just be for my own benefit."

The fairy froze for a second perfectly aware of what Emma was implying. She seemed to be as scared as a small rabbit facing a hungry wildcat in a burned down forest. She swallowed hard and her face turned back from pale to an usual rouge slowly. She didn't give up even though her voice was shaking heavily, "you need me."

"For what", Emma asked skeptically, and surprised before she could even stop herself, even though she was feeling a little sorry for that fairy now.

"To protect you."

She examined her from head to toe noticing the perfectly styled hair, the sparkling pink dress and the small and filigree arms and legs and raised an eyebrow. Her voice was almost dripping with sarcasm when she said, "I highly doubt that."

She went on but Nova followed her anyway, "you need my help to become happy, Emma."

She slowed down her steps, "I am."

"No you're not. You need me to take care of you", the fairy tried again. She was still quite nervous and desperate.

"Maybe I don't want to be happy."

"Everyone wants that."

"Maybe I just don't want your help."

"You don't really mean that."

Emma stopped, when Nova was suddenly standing in front of her. Nice trick, but not nice enough, she thought, "I can take care of myself quite well."

The fairy raised an eyebrow and looked at her dirty and messed up hair, her dirty face and her old, off worn and muddy cloths, noticed the bruise in her face, she had gotten when she had fought Tappert's insane friend, and the cut in her leg once again and looked at her in an a lot telling way.

Emma sighed, "I'd like to know what you'd look like after doing my job."

The fairy's expression turned into pity, "the point is that I don't need to."

"Well, but I do."

"And you shouldn't need to either."

"Well, thanks to my vanished parents I've got no other choice."

"But you do", Nova insisted and was all the encouraged fairy again, "you always have. There have always been other orphans like you and most of them took another way, Emma. Not everyone of them turned bad or had to go down the route you chose. You don't have to do that job."

"But I like my job."

"It's dangerous."

"Which is why I like it", she insisted before she noticed another wanted poster, somebody had already thrown away, which was why it was lying formed into a wrinkled ball on top of a basket filled with fire wood beside a small fireplace in the middle of the market behind Nova's back. The bounty seemed to be extremely high as far as she could see it.

Emma left the fairy behind once more without paying any more attention to her at all and hurried across the distance to that fireplace, to get the wanted poster before someone would burn it.

"I can't believe you really want to keep on living like this", she heard Nova ranting from somewhere far behind her, when she reached for the paper.

She unfolded it carefully so she wouldn't tear even one part of it. At the bottom there was written the prize which proofed to be as high as she had expected it before. Right above of it were written the words "dead or alive". The rest of the poster was filled with the drawing of a man with dark hair, quite intense eyes, that seemed to examine her entirely and a very charming, flirty and dangerous smile. From his right ear was hanging an earring and his jaw looked like he hadn't shaved it for more than just three days. Right above his picture there was written his name "Captain Hook". That name didn't really leave much room for imagination. Maybe this would be the first time the bounty would actually match to the person she had to hunt down for it? At least the name was ringing something in the back of her mind. It was like she had heard it once before, but she couldn't remember in which connection.

"Oh ducky, I don't think this is a good idea", an old man suddenly said from beside the fireplace. He was sitting there warming his hands at the fire. He had shoved the tip of his beard into his belt to prevent it from getting into the fire and his cloths were just as dirty as hers. While she had been looking at the poster, he had leaned into her to catch a glance as well, without her even noticing it.

Emma skipped the question why he thought like that, already hearing the same old answer of being a pure small girl and not a tough and strong mountain of a man and frowned, "what do you know about him?"

The man chuckled, "stories. There are a lot stories out there about the sometimes strong, smart or even dangerous pirate captain."

Emma raised an eyebrow. Not every story was true. She had discovered that a lot of times now, "and what are those stories?"

He grinned like he was feeling sorry for her purity and naivety, "well, one is that you won't find him. Nobody has ever caught him."

"Why that?"

"Because nobody has seen him ever since that bloody curse hit."

"Is that the reason you wanted to burn it", Emma asked not really interested anymore.

The man laughed, "yes, indeed."

Emma held out the poster to him so he could burn it even though she would have loved to keep it, but she didn't want to leave the impression to be interested in hunting the captain's head. Sometimes it was wiser to hide what you were actually hunting for, because possible rivals and too far spread rumors could always destroy every attempt to achieve it.

The man took it and threw it into the fire, "believe me ducky, it's better that way. I don't think you would have been able to catch him anyway. He really is dangerous."

"And as far as you know I don't need to worry since nobody has seen him in twenty-seven years anyway", Emma added before he could say anything more, just slightly noticing that Nova had left her alone again.

"Well", he said slowly, "you never know and you're just a woman."

Emma forced herself to grin, "yeah, well, you never know." She left him behind and walked straight out of town. She'd need a horse if she really wanted to go where she expected him to be the most. It would take her a while to get there and a horse would just be handy to speed up her journey. It would make everything a lot more easier.


	2. A town filled with enemies

2. A town filled with enemies

It was a dark and rainy night. The moon fought its way through the heavy and dark clouds every now and then and its reflection in the puddles at the ground lit up the world in a dim and mesmerizing light. Everything was silent out here except for the few horses and their riders, traveling through the small alleys, searching for a place to stay and the far sounds of laughing and sometimes even singing men, that was dimmed through heavy wooden doors of the taverns on both sides of the lane. The men had saved themselves inside to avoid the cold and wet rain.

This tavern's windows were dirty and some of them had holes like a huge cheese so the air was piping inside every now and then. Just as dirty as the windows were the jugs and glasses the bartender gave out to his guests, who were way too drunk to care for it anymore.

Emma had been lucky. She had found a corner in the tavern she had all for herself, where the wind wasn't getting through. Thanks to her dark hood, she was wearing pulled far into her face, so it wasn't just covering her hair but also hiding her gender, nobody seemed to notice her at all and she was free to watch the men drinking, laughing and yelling stories more than simply talking, because they were way too drunk to notice how loud they were. She was free to dwell on her own thoughts now.

It had been months since she had found that wanted poster at that little market. Back then she hadn't believed the old man, maybe because he had belittled her for her gender. She had believed him to be insane for believing in old stories and myths about a man, who'd bring her a lot of money, once she'd catch him. And she had believed, she wouldn't need the help of the noisy fairy, who had been just as annoying back then.

Well, she had been more than wrong as it seemed. She had been too proud believing her skills would be enough to find and catch that pirate. Sure she was still healthy, had caught several of other wanted people and had survived through stealing from others, if she had a tough time between her catches, but she hadn't found the captain. Everyone seemed to know him, but nobody had actually seen him in the past few months. It was annoying and frustrating, but she had to admit that searching for him was pointless. Nova might have been of help but she had disappeared ever since they had met first. Maybe she finally had understood, that Emma would never be suitable to be her client in the end. Well, the fairy wouldn't have helped her to catch him anyway. It would have been against her appeal.

Emma sighed and resisted the urge to get out her wanted posters and check his one again. She had found that copy around three weeks after talking to that old man at the market and had hold on to it ever since, just in case she would meet someone looking even slightly alike him. It wouldn't be a good idea to reveal who she was by showing off wanted posters in a tavern filled with thieves, murderer and pirates, if she wasn't mistaken.

Instead she decided to watch the people in the tavern once more. Most of them were men who were quite drunk. They were celebrating with some prostitutes, playing drinking games or singing and yelling, until they lost their voices. The bartender couldn't get new jugs fast enough for them, to stop them from screaming for more. Some of those men she could even find on her wanted posters. It would have been way too easy to catch at least three of them tonight, but she wasn't in the right mood. To be honest, she was frustrated and she didn't want to take it out on even one of those men, since it was too dangerous to lose focus because of it. She might get killed, if she wouldn't be able to concentrate like she needed to, in order to survive and do her job. And it would be pointless to die in a fight with some ordinary men, when she was actually waiting for a bigger fish.

But not to catch them annoyed her even more, because it meant loosing money, which could force her to steal again.

Emma took a sip of her rum ignoring the dirt in it and leaned back in her seat once more. The problem with pirates was, you never really knew which crew they belonged to, unless they were really important members of it or leading them. There were a lot of pirates here tonight, but there also were at least three pirate ships in the harbor as well. And some of these men were just pretending to be pirates, because they wanted to become part of a crew in the near future, which meant their heads were worth nothing at all.

So it would be useless, to just catch one, to lure the one out, she actually wanted to catch. Bloody hell, she hadn't even seen Hook's flag yet.

The door opened and another crowed of men swapped inside the tavern. They were laughing, chatting and some of them immediately had a woman hanging from each arm, just like they were magnets and the women were filled with iron. Others already reached for a jaw of rum, even before they'd ordered anything and confused the poor bartender.

More pirates, Emma thought and rolled her eyes. But she wouldn't have expected anything less, since this was one of the well hidden pirate towns. It had taken her four months to find it. She had started to search for it long before she had found that wanted poster. She had been searching for it ever since she had heard of it for the first time. But she had been certain, that Hook and his men would be here.

There was another man she had a personal grudge against. She hated him more than she could tell and she would love to catch him. He was the reason she had been searching for this town in the first place. Blackbeard was his name and he was the reason she had lost a really close friend or at least she believed so.

When she had met Graham she had been more than lost. Her love had betrayed and left her and if it wouldn't have been for him, she would have been dead for a very long time now. Graham had saved her life. It was thanks to him she was able to use a bow, guns, knifes and a sword. It was thanks to him she knew about reflex points and how to read someone else's movements and how to fight without a weapon. It was thanks to him she was able to do what she was doing in order to survive and it was thanks to him she was able to protect herself and others.

There were not many women, who could say that of themselves in a world ruled by men. Sure there had been rumors of the past of famous women like the Evil Queen and Snow White but in the end, they both hadn't been fighting or at least saving themselves. The Evil Queen had always been able to relay on her magical powers and that had nothing to do with physical strength and protecting yourself through natural and ordinary abilities. You could hardly call a witch to be ordinary.

And Snow White had been saved by her husband in the end. If it wouldn't have been for him, she would have been rotting in her coffin of glass for the rest of her cursed life. So in the end she had been saved by a man as well. But still Emma was impressed by her. She had taken on the Evil Queen after all and she had done it without any magic, just relaying on her own abilities and natural strength. She was close to what she wished for every woman in a man's world.

Maybe she was too proud and her judgment was too strict. But she was sick of living in world where men decided about everything. She wanted to make her own decisions and to act the way she wanted to without being reduced on her gender.

Anyway it was thanks to Blackbeard that Graham was gone for ever. She had searched for him everywhere ever since that night, but she had never found him. And just like her big love, Graham had left her alone for ever.

Emma watched a pirate leaving the tavern with on of the prostitutes. His intentions were more than obvious, just like the woman's goal to earn his money or whatever he had to offer. The door wasn't even shut again, when some other men entered the tavern. Some of them followed the pair with their eyes, while others were already focusing the rum at the bar or another woman waiting for them to do her job.

Those women were quite poor creatures. They had nothing to offer to live and they had lost more than they could bear, so they had to give everything they had left, in order to survive even though they got nothing from it. Emma didn't even want to imagine what they experienced sometimes.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, as a pirate pushed one of these women into the air and swung her around, while circling, her breasts hanging in his face, while she laughed like a hyena. She didn't want to watch this disgusting and strange show any longer, just like she really didn't want to steal in a town like this. A pirate town definitely wasn't the right place to risk the own life with the possibility of being caught and discovered as a bounty hunter, who had caught many of their men. No. She'd have to catch one of them and she'd have to be very creative in the process. And she had a long way to go to earn the bounty, since there were no guards in this town. On top of that catching one of those men would be quite satisfying for her despite her frustration and the danger that came along with it.

Emma avoided some men chasing after a woman of the staff, they clearly confused for one of the prostitutes and made sure, her hood was staying in place. She made her way through the crowded room barely noticing the men sitting in the other corners, some laughing and chatting, some putting their heads together and some lying in the women's arms or between their breasts, just like they had forgotten, where they actually were or just believing their corners were dark enough. She stopped for a second and took another look back to a corner filled with pirates sticking their heads together, obviously laughing and chatting about a friend of theirs, flirting with a woman, who seemed to hang on his lips like he was a preacher telling her about her redemption. Something was odd in that picture, even though it definitely was usual to see something like that in a tavern like this. The problem was she could hardly see anything in that corner. It was just too dark to see anything special. But she noticed something in the people's movements.

Something about the man was wrong. He was flirting and entertaining his friends and the woman really seemed to enjoy it, but he didn't seem to at all. It was like he was putting on an act, but she couldn't explain to herself why he'd do that. She could see it in every movement he made, in every caress and every move of his shoulders, when he seemed to laugh about something. It was odd.

Was it just up to her imagination or was she judging him right? But why would someone do that? And why wouldn't a man be interested in a woman he could easily convince to join his bed? She had seen plenty of men in her twenty-seven years of living on the street and taking care of herself to know that most of the ordinary ones always enjoyed such women. Sure not every man was like that, but men hanging around in a tavern like this, in a town where there was nothing like ethics and morals, usually did.

Suddenly he stopped focusing on the woman and turned to look around, just like he had noticed someone watching him, until he found Emma. She was glad the hood was covering her face just like her cloak was hiding her features. For a second she felt like she was frozen. She felt like he had pinned her at the spot she was standing at, just by looking at her. There was something in the way he was focusing on her, even though she couldn't see any features of his face through the darkness surrounding him, that made her feel uneasy.

Slowly she turned away from that corner and left the room looking around like he had just caught her by accident, while she had been searching the room without any intentions. She wanted him to believe that she hadn't been focused on him. She wanted him to know that she had just noticed him by accident, just like she really had.

It seemed to work. After a few steps she was almost certain he wasn't paying any attention to her anymore. She felt like he wasn't looking at her any longer. Maybe he was concentrating on flirting with the woman sitting in his corner and flirting with him again. She didn't know it, even though she was quite curious, since he somehow had so much influence on her, which she couldn't understand at all. But she didn't dare to turn around to check on it. She could be mistaken after all. Maybe thinking of Graham and her past had brought up something inside her that had softened her as much as she had been open for his sudden interest? Or maybe she was secretly longing for someone being close to her, someone who would care for her? She had been alone ever since Graham had died after all. Wasn't it just natural to long for someone who would be interested in her? Someone who would treat her like she was the most precious thing in his world? Someone who would be there for her and would treat her as someone equal to himself? But could someone like that even exist? And would she even be able to open up to such a person?

She didn't know. All she knew was that she usually winced back if someone tried to reach out to her. She had pulled up her walls ever since she had been betrayed. It had been difficult to reach her even for Graham, who had been everything she had ever had of a family. So how could she even think about someone staying with her and caring for her the way she wanted to? And how could she even think of someone like that, when she wanted to be her own person? Was it even possible to have both, someone who cared for her and took care of her and to stay independent and free from the common rules, made by men? Could there be any man who'd accept her like that, without trying to change her?

Could there even be someone who would love her like that, even though she wasn't pure and innocent anymore? She had given that man more than her trust and love. He had taken everything before he had betrayed her. She had trusted in the wrong person and now she maybe even would have to pay for it for the rest of her life, by being alone and judged by everyone who'd find out about it. It was bitter but in a world like this, it was a sad fact.

She sighed and walked down the alley hoping to find a pirate or anyone close to that, she could beat up to get rid of her frustrations. She barely ever felt like that. But when she did, she needed to do something about it to distract herself and beating up someone was better, than to burst into tears of self-pity. And the best thing about it was, that she could even make some money with it, if she'd find someone to lend her a horse, so she could deliver her victim to the next guards, who were quite far away from this place.

* * *

"And you believe she was worth it, why?"

"Because she is a good person. She is just covering it up", Nova explained and watched Emma chasing down a pirate through dark and wet streets. It didn't take long and she was already fighting him… she was more than fighting him… she actually was breaking him. Nova frowned as Emma broke his nose.

"I see", Blue said sarcastically, "she is such a good person, Nova, you're right."

"She is just hiding it."

"Hiding", Blue said emotionless, "if she was buried by an avalanche she couldn't be hidden better than her good side, I'm afraid."

"But", Nova started to try to convince her again, but was disturbed by the Blue Fairy, who didn't want to listen any longer, while Emma bound the pirate's hands together on his back and pulled him to his feet roughly, "I don't want to hear this. You are wasting your time and even worse you're wasting mine as well."

The fairy turned her back on Emma, after risking one last glance at her forcing the hurt pirate down another street and on a horses back, "forget her. She doesn't even show a little glimpse of guilt or a wish to change her life, Nova. She is not worth it, but there are a lot of others who'll need you."

Nova swallowed hard while watching Emma riding out into the night. She was right about her, she was certain. If Emma wouldn't want to change something she would never have wanted to help her at all. It was just a feeling but if she couldn't trust her own feelings anymore, she wasn't right for this job. And her feelings proofed her right. She trusted them and she believed in Emma just like she believed in her own abilities.

Ignoring the small voice in the back of her mind questioning all that, she sighed and followed Blue back into their world filled with flowers and sunlight. She would need to take another job or she would be ordered back to deliver fairy dust between the dwarfs and the fairies again and that wouldn't be of help for neither of them. Neither Emma nor her would benefit of it. And she had no wish to face that one particular dwarf again, who had broken her heart.

Nova looked down at the world while she followed Blue. It was just too hurting to even think about her Happy and the way he had left her. She hadn't had the power to experience all the wonders and adventures without him, after he had left her.

"Don't worry, Nova", Blue said misjudging her reaction, "don't worry. You'll find another person you can help. One who'll be worth it."

Nova bit down any other word, remembering what had happened to the misguided Green. She wouldn't be of help for Emma if she would end up like her and that woman needed every help she could get.

* * *

Emma pushed dust and pieces of straw off her cloths, before she bound her hair to a knot and pulled the hood, that was part of her cloak, over her head until her face was hidden. She had slept in a stable since she didn't trust anyone in this town. You never knew what a crazy and greedy innkeeper could come up with especially in a town like this.

It had been her third night spending in a stable and yesterday she had caught and delivered her second pirate in this town. Of course she couldn't just bring him to the guards since there wasn't anything like this here, so she had spent most of the night traveling around to other towns with her prisoner as part of her packages.

Emma left the stable and stepped out into the night. After her last journey her perspective on day and night had shifted, since she used the day to sleep. It was just safer than at night. At night it was possible that one of those pairs - a pirate or thief and a prostitute usually - would suddenly show up to have a "nice" time together and she didn't want to be a witness of those meetings. Emma avoided another puddle while she walked down the street and watched the pirates around her carefully. They were everywhere. She felt like a mouse in a snake's nest hiding under something. But she knew it wouldn't take long anymore and the snakes would notice her.

She went down to the docks where the ships were landing all the time, to check if there were new pirate crews. On her way she passed some pirates trying to hire new members for their crews, which was something she had never seen before. Maybe because something like that was only possible in a town like this one.

She stopped in front of one of those tables and watched the men. One was sitting at the table writing down names on a list and talking with the men telling him their names to be hired, while another pirate was standing right next to them shouting out the crew's name (which usually contained the captain's name) and advertising for the crew with stupid stories, that generally ended up being pure tales. This crew didn't seem as famous as others, since the men standing in a line to get hired looked like they were weather about to die soon or just like kids.

Emma rolled her eyes and stepped aside to turn around, when someone suddenly wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her back violently.

Her breathing stopped and her neck started to hurt immediately. The arm was very strong just like the flat chest she was pressed against, that belonged to the man behind her back. Even though she tried to free herself again by using both of her hands to pull at that arm, she wasn't able to get rid of him.

Well, but she didn't really try, did she?

He pulled her back through a small lane and Emma had no other choice but to stumble after him, until he stopped far behind the houses and pushed her in the middle of a yard.

Emma's hood was still covering her hair and face for what she was thankful, when she noticed all the pirates surrounding her in a dangerous circle. It seemed the snakes had noticed her and they obviously were more than angry with her.

"Is that him", the pirate behind her back asked and as she turned on her heels to face him, she noticed that he indeed was very strong and big. His muscles were as big as plates showing through the strange and thin fabric of his vest, which was the only thing covering his chest at all. His hair were bound back into a brown ponytail where his head turned into his neck and his brown eyes were starring at her more than angry.

As she turned back to the man answering him now, she secretly counted the men surrounding her. She studied their positions and body sizes, noticed their muscles and tattoos just like their piercings and weapons. Everything could be important.

"This must be him", the other pirate right across from her answered. He was smaller and fatter than the rest, was wearing a red hat on his thin hair and had something nervous in his eyes. His face was somehow familiar to her but she couldn't recall why or from where she thought she knew it. It was possible that he had just passed her on the street after all.

"Good", another one said before her kidnapper said, "then let's talk about the man you sold to the guards two nights before." He seemed to be the leader of their group even though she wasn't sure their captain was with them yet.

Emma turned around to look at him as he walked up to her slowly and dangerously like a cat, even though he was more looking like a bear, "he was our friend."

She counted fifteen men, if she wasn't mistaken. They exchanged angry glances and became even more furious when Emma didn't show any reaction to their accusations. It was useless anyway. This wasn't planned to be a fair fight at all. They had already decided her punishment. Every word would just be wasted.

"You don't say anything", said the little scared one in a rebellious voice from behind her back and when she looked at him again, there was something chargeable in his brown and small eyes. He didn't seem to be as vulnerable as before anymore at all and the weapon in his hand didn't change anything about that to her advantage either. But seeing him like this now, what she had recognized before, seemed to form into a picture that was familiar to her. A man sitting at a table beside two other pirates and a prostitute and a picture drawn on a wanted poster came back into her mind. Sm…Sma… Emma couldn't come up with his name. It had been something unusual…Smee! He was part of Hook's crew.

"He was part of our crew", Smee continued talking about the pirate she had caught making out with a prostitute two nights before, "and you never harm a pirate if his crew is around."

Emma rolled her eyes. Why did she always have to listen to those stupid speeches about how great and dangerous they were in situations like this?

If Emma wasn't mistaken then Smee was Hook's first mate. That was interesting and confusing. She actually had expected that gorilla in her back to be their leader and not that frightened rat only encouraged by the majority of his men. And there was something ironic about this situation, too. After all those months searching for these pirates without any trace of them, they had found her. If her position would have been different right now, she would have laughed about it.

In the end the old saying was true: be careful what you whish for.

They obviously had enough of her silence and Smee's stupid small talk since they decided to pull their swords and knifes. Smee stepped back just like a dog trainer throwing a chicken into a bunch of bloodthirsty, crazy and quite hungry dogs trained to kill. For him there was no question what her role in this was. It was clear she was supposed to be the chicken. But they didn't know they had gotten a tiger instead.

The men exchanged short glances before one of them stepped forward and started to attack her with a sidestep. They send a beginner at her, seriously?

Emma didn't even pull her sword. She avoided his blade grabbed his wrist, extricated the sword out of his hand, kneed his leg, so he stumbled forward and pushed him into his friends, so they were distracted for a moment, within seconds.

Finally understanding what she might be capable of, the huge one behind her grabbed her again, while another pirate decided to attack her from the front. Emma grabbed the arm around her neck, took a deep breath and pulled herself up to kick the second one in his face. His nose started to bleed immediately and tears shot into his eyes as he sank to his knees a few meters away from her.

After that Emma used momentum to pull the other one over her back and throw him to the ground. Before she could knock him out, another pirate attacked her with a knife. She only avoided him through jumping back and crashed into another one of her enemies, who pushed her, in order to stab her with his friends knife anyway. She stopped herself from falling into it, through grabbing his shoulders, to keep enough distance between the knife and herself. She was cut at the waist and suppressed a sound of pain, before she reached the reflex point at his neck to nock him out entirely. He fell on his strong friend, who had been standing up again and fell back to the ground.

Emma jumped across them to get space between the other twelve and herself and turned on her heels to face them.

One of them threw a knife at her, which she avoided praying that none of them had a gun or at least, that none of them would decide to use it.

When the bear-like came back to his feet, she saw her chances floating away. It was a shame she hadn't knocked him out yet. That would have been of big help for her.

The boy from before was still holding his wrist like it was hurting. Maybe he was just scared of her and used his wrist as an excuse not to attack her again. Too bad the others weren't thinking like that as well.

The huge one stepped closer towards her. There was no way she could beat him like this. She had just three options left beside getting killed. First to attack him with a kick. He would grab her leg and if she was lucky, he'd just throw her back into their circle, where she would be stabbed long before she'd get back to her feet and she'd die.

Second she could try to use one of her own knifes against him, but considering how strong he was he could easily extricate it from her grip to use it against her and she'd die.

Or third she could wait for his attack and hope to reach a reflex point to stop him. Any point would be fine. But if she wouldn't succeed she would simply die.

He made her decision when he suddenly punched her in her face. With that, all of her options were done. She almost flew back against a barrel that broke apart underneath her. Her back was aching and her vision blurred for a second. He used her current situation to come closer, stepping across his friend who was still lying on the ground unconscious.

Emma stood up, blinked to see clearly again and looked up, an idea forming in her head. When he was close enough she jumped up, grabbed a transom of a balcony above her and swung her feet to kick his head, what seemed to be his weakest point.

He grabbed her ankle and steadied her hanging in the air an evil grin on his face. Fine, then not. Emma kicked his face with her free foot and forced him to let go of her, to stumble back. She let herself fall back to her feet, grabbed a small and empty barrel next to her and crashed it above his head. She knocked him out and when he hit the ground, the other men, who had stayed back to enjoy the show, stared at her more than surprised.

Her hood had slipped back revealing her blond hair and her face to them as she stood grunting heavily in the shadow of the balcony, above their strongest man lying unconscious to her feet. She pulled her hood back up and ignored the sticking pain in her arms and the warm feeling from the back of her head, where blood was escaping her body.

The pirates calmed down and one after another came back to his senses. They started to attack her again in pairs of two or three men and she managed to knock them out, before the next pair showed up. Of course she still was hit but in the end she managed to win, what she never would have expected to be possible at all.

A lot of them were lying on the ground, some were pinned up at the walls and one was hanging from the balcony above her, pinned at the wood with his own knife. About five of them had run away after watching their comrades loosing to her and Smee had already disappeared as she had beat up the big man lying to her feet. She had bet up around nine men what she could be proud of even though she was hurt.

Emma had bruises in her face, at her neck and at her arms. Her back was aching like she had dug over a whole field on her own and the back of her head was bleeding. She was cut at her waist and her legs. Once more she was dirty from head to toe and mud was burning in the wound at her waist. Maybe the blade had been dirty. Stupid pirate. She was grunting and her head was aching. And she wasn't sure, she'd be able to bring as much distance between herself and them as she whished for.

But the most annoying thing was that she couldn't collect the bounties on their heads after all the trouble, she had had with them just now. She was certain the big one would have been enough to feet her for a whole year.

Emma hurried away from them. She wasn't foolish enough to believe this had been more than luck and even less stupid to think she'd get away with this again, hurt as she was.

No, she needed a place to mend her wounds and take a breath, before she could search for their ship. And Smee. And Hook. She needed to be fine again before she could fight the rest of his crew.

She blinked her vision free once more, which blurred every now and then, as she dragged herself down the lanes, her head feeling like a balloon and her vision changing form time to time. She ignored the stabbing pain rushing through her whole, by adrenaline empowered body. She definitely was more than exhausted. Where was that fairy if you needed her?

Who was she fooling? She had been right when she had told Nova she wasn't worth her help. And as it seemed the fairy had started to believe it, too. If not she definitely was a bad fairy.

Emma pushed open a door to a stable and looked around. There was nobody there if she wasn't mistaken, which was quite possible in her current situation, but that could change very fast. She was too close to the harbor and still too close to the unconscious and bet up men, who'd be screaming and hunting for vengeance anytime soon.

She stepped a few steps further inside the stable not wanting to fall asleep, since she had to stay awake to protect herself, stumbled, her vision blurred again and she collapsed on the ground.


	3. Wanted

3. Wanted

Something was tickling. She felt it clearly. It was at her waist. But why? She smelled dust and straw and heard a strange sound she had never heard before. Water? And fire? No. She knew those sounds. She had no word for it but it reminded her of a lightning. Even though her eyelids were as heavy as stones, she opened her eyes to check what was going on. Something was telling her that she was in big trouble.

Emma remembered where she was and how and why she had gotten there. But something of her story was missing, which meant she had collapsed.

Someone was leaning over her, but she couldn't see a face since her eyes hadn't gotten used to the strange light yet.

"Don't worry", a somehow familiar voice said softly and the sound of the lightning stopped along with the brightly light vanishing, "you're alright. Nothing will happen to you, Emma."

"Nova", she asked in disbelieve and frowned, as she noticed how weak and scratchy her own voice was sounding like, what she regretted immediately as a stabbing pain rushed into her forehead. It hurt like hell and she had to squeeze her eyes shut again to ease the pain.

"Yes", the fairy answered happy that she was recognized, "yes, it's me."

"Oh", Emma didn't know what to say except, "what are you doing here?"

Nova looked down at her in confusion, "I-I'm helping you. Didn't you want that? Was that wrong?"

"No", Emma said fast and tried to sit up, "I'm just surprised."

"I told you I'd help you", the fairy stated, "and I knew you'd need me."

Emma ignored her last sentence and looked down at her waist. The wound was gone just like her bruises at her arms.

"Oh, I took care of that", Nova explained after noticing her confusion, "and the wound at the back of your head is gone as well. You really shouldn't wait to clean something like that. You could have caught an infection, you know?"

Emma swallowed hard. It wasn't easy for her to say it, but she knew she had to express it, "thank you."

"Well, I could heal most of it, but you woke up before I was done with your head completely, so be careful. The wound at the back is healed. But I couldn't take care of your headaches. I guess it's aching like hell, isn't it?"

"I'll survive it", Emma said and took a look around. She was in a stable indeed. Everywhere was lying straw, at the walls were hanging the rakes and everything else you needed to collect it and to push the corns out of their ears when they were harvested in autumn. The whole place was made of wood and when she looked up to the ceiling she would see the construction frame of the ceiling of the half-timbered house.

"No matter how much you did", Emma said slowly looking back at her, "you deserve it that I thank you."

Nova almost beamed at her not just because she was proud of herself and her help as Emma had to find out, "and what now? Do you want to start all over again and leave all this behind? Be careful. Think of your head", she added as Emma finally pushed herself back to her feet.

"What", she asked confused and checked her legs, "why should I stop?"

The fairy stared at her, "you almost died."

"No, I didn't. I almost caught an infection. That's something different."

Nova rolled her eyes before she burst in anger, "you were hurt as badly as you collapsed and needed me to take care of you, you need to hide all the time and to fight and-and you get attacked out of nowhere. You don't even know if you'll survive the next day and you still want to continue like this?"

"Yes", Emma answered her rhetorical questions without hesitation, "yes, that's exactly what I want."

"But why?"

Emma walked to the door Nova must have closed behind her and took a look outside to discover, where exactly she was now, without answering her. She didn't want to tell her about Graham. It was non of her business.

They were in a stable down at the harbor. It was something like a miracle she hadn't been found by a pirate or a thief or worse, "how did you find me?"

"I hadn't been looking for you. But somehow you're voice was so loud I couldn't ignore it", Nova explained, "it's difficult. Fairies don't really need to hear what someone is saying to know that they are needed. I guess your subconscious was yelling for me."

"I see. So you don't know what happened to the pirates?"

"No", the fairy said and looked into her eyes. She was honest. There was no sign of a lie at all.

"But I guess they went back to their ship."

"How long have I been lying here", Emma asked just slightly noticing that Nova hadn't changed ever since they had met the last time, which had already been a long time ago now. She was still wearing her hair bound up and she was still dressed in this sparkling pink dress. And she hadn't gotten thicker.

"A whole day and the past night."

"And nobody wanted to come in here?"

Nova frowned, "I don't know. I locked the door magically. But now that you woke up the magic is worn off. So it's not safe any longer I'm afraid."

"What do you know about the pirates' ship", Emma asked hoping she would be able to tell her, where it was, since she perfectly remembered, who she had been fighting with.

"It's the Jolly Roger", Nova said slowly and walked up to her, "but you really shouldn't go there, Emma."

"Why not?"

"You just fought them and they might still be angry with you. You were hurt as badly as you needed my help to survive at all and besides that, vengeance is not a solution it is a problem."

"I'm fine. I can take them on and I'm not searching for vengeance."

"You're just fine because of my help. If you remember right, you barely made it and on that ship there might be more pirates as you've just fought with. Not to mention their captain."

Emma sighed, "but Hook-"

"Is too much of a thread besides all of his men. You know there usually is a reason for being the leader of a crew of pirates. He doesn't have that role for nothing", Nova finished her sentence, "besides their ship is not even here at the harbor. You would need to search everywhere to find it at all."

Emma stared at her surprised of her reaction.

Deep down herself she knew she was right. She knew she wouldn't have a chance, if she'd enter their ship and start to fight them all. That night she had been fighting them successfully, had been a miracle. But still she longed to catch him. He was so close and it had taken her months to achieve that. It was frustrating to have to let him go now. She didn't just want to catch him for the price on his head but for information. He was a pirate, he was famous and after all the stories she had heard, she was certain he could give her information she could need, even though she didn't believe half of what the people said about him. She couldn't believe all this should be out of reach again, just because she hadn't been careful enough and had warned them through catching one of them. It mustn't be true that she had sold her opportunity through that.

But Nova was right. She had lost her moment of surprise.

Emma stepped back into the shadows when a pirate suddenly walked by. He belonged to Hook's crew. His right eye was black and swollen, his nose was smeared with dry blood and his cloths looked like they had taken a bath in salty water. She gave it a thought and remembered how he had ended up in a barrel of water somehow.

"I guess that's your work", Nova asked in a whisper and raised an eyebrow, as he left them behind without noticing them at all.

Emma didn't answer her and followed him with her eyes. He was all alone.

"Don't."

She looked at the fairy in surprise, "what?"

"This could be a trap, Emma. Don't go", Nova said nervously and worried.

She sighed. She was right.

Emma was about to turn her back on him, when she noticed something from the corner of her eyes. It was another man on his way down to the docks. He was huge and somehow familiar to her. It took her a moment to understand who he was. He belonged to Blackbeard's crew.

Before Emma knew what she was doing, she was out on the street despite Nova's objections and followed the stranger. She was totally focused on him and since she had met Blackbeard's crew before, she noticed his mates as well. She guessed that the closer she got to their ship, the more pirates of that crew she saw walking by, talking with other men at the harbor, merchants selling their goods and some of the women spending their mornings at the small market here.

When she noticed Hawke she was glad she was wearing her hood and it was hard not to attack him. She hurried into the shadows of some huge houses hidden by a booth of a merchant. Hawke was Blackbeard's first made and he had been the one who she had been fighting with back then. He was tall, he was stronger than he looked like, his hair was blonde and his eyes were grey as a rock in the sunlight. People said if he was really invested in a fight and enjoyed it his eyes were almost glowing in excitement and killing spree. She could sign that. When she had been fighting him all those years ago he had only stopped, because Blackbeard had called him back like a dog to run back to their ship again. That had saved her life since she hadn't been as experienced as today and the fight hadn't been fair. Emma took a deep breath and froze when she noticed the huge ship in front of her. She had never seen it before and she had to admit that it was quite impressing.

The figurehead hanging at the bug was a mermaid, that seemed to be bound to the ship like a prisoner trying to escape but pulled back again. She was leaning far across the dock just like she was longing to escape her bounds and run away, even though there was nothing but land in front of her and she wouldn't be able to walk. Her expression was worked as detailed that you could almost feel sorry for her when you looked at it.

At the heck of the ship there were three lines of windows and the helm was looking out of the sea as far, as she had to wonder how deep it was reaching into the ocean at all.

The sails were red as blood and above the crow's nest a pirate flag was floating in the wind surrounded by seagulls, spreading their strange music across the whole harbor. They said Blackbeard's sails were dried red by the blood of his victims. He was famous for his cruelty and his recklessness. There were even rumors about him not aging even a single day, even before the whole Enchanted Forest had been cursed. And of course everyone had heard of his huge and hidden treasure. He was supposed to be the only one, who knew exactly where it was hidden. But Emma didn't believe that. At least his crew had to know about it, if it really existed.

She had been longing for this moment for such a long time and now it was finally there. She didn't want to take vengeance on the pirate captain, as Nova would believe it for sure. No, she wanted answers for a night a very long time ago, when she had lost everything she ever had of a family. She wanted to know what happened and he was the only one who could tell her. But to find out about the truth she needed to enter that ship made of black wood and meet Blackbeard himself even if she'd die. It had turned out to be impossible to meet him anywhere if it wasn't in a fight or on his ship. She had never had the opportunity to talk to him and that was everything she wanted even though it was more than life threatening. He wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know freely. He would just tell her what he wanted to tell her, but Emma couldn't need another stupid story about how strong, evil and incredible he was. She wanted the truth and she knew she wouldn't get it if she wouldn't force him to tell her.

She took a deep breath and stepped forward, when someone suddenly grabbed her left arm and pulled her between the houses behind her without anyone noticing it.

Before she fully understood what was going on she was pressed against a wall and stared into ocean blue eyes that were somehow familiar to her. She had seen them before, but she couldn't recall when or where because she was still too confused. She had been concentrating on Blackbeard and his vessel just a second before and now everything had changed too fast to simply move on. She needed a second to focus on what was going on now.

Those eyes, she had seen them before in a tavern, next to Smee's, even though she hadn't been able to recognize their color back then. And she knew the face that belonged to those eyes very well, even though it wasn't looking that much like the one she had seen before on a wanted poster.

His hair were dark and barely hang into his forehead and his chin was looking like he hadn't shaved for maybe two days. She had seen this face before, had noticed those features and had been surprised by the way those eyes had been looking at her. In real life it was even worse to look at them than at that bloody wanted poster. It was like they could look right through her.

It was strange that she hadn't recognized him at that tavern several days ago. He had been right in front of her the whole time and she hadn't even noticed it. It was a shame.

He was dressed all in black leather and underneath his black cloak and vest he was wearing a dark blue shirt leaving a spot at his chest to see. From his belt was hanging a sword and his left hand was a hook matching to his name.

Emma freed herself pushing him away and stared him down, "what do you want?"

"That's actually something I wanted to ask you", he said jokingly even though there was no amusement in his eyes, just like there had been no emotion in them, when he had been flirting with that wench at the tavern maybe four days ago.

Emma refused to answer him. Judging his reaction he already knew what she had been about to do.

"Look", he said after it was clear she wouldn't answer him, "I know you've got a tough job and that you're good at it", he stopped and stared at her. His eyes wandered from her body structures, as far as he was able to see them under her cloak, to her blond hair, showing to both sides of her face out under the hood she was wearing and his forehead turned into a frown.

"What", Emma asked annoyed with a glance at the street to her right. She didn't have time for this, even though he was the famous Captain Hook. She needed to get on board of Blackbeard's ship before they'd leave and they were already getting ready to sail away again.

"Well", he said slowly and still a little confused as it seemed, "I wasn't expecting this."

"Let me guess", Emma said annoyed to speed up their unimportant and time wasting conversation, "your men told you I was a strong and huge man with muscles to my ears and as furious as a monster nobody could ever fight."

Hook grinned, "indeed. I'm impressed. That makes you even better than what I believed you to be, after everything they said. And you don't even want to know who I am? I'm flattered you already know me."

"I've seen your wanted posters."

"Then you must be impressed now. They don't really flatter me well, you know?"

"Actually I thought the drawer did you a favor."

"Och, that hurt", he said with a huge grin on his lips before he became more serious again, "but whatever, Blackbeard is too much of a thread for you."

Emma rolled her eyes, "why would you care?"

"Because I'm a gentleman and as such it's my task to protect you", he said charmingly.

"You're not a gentleman. You're a chauvinist."

That made him laugh.

Emma surrounded him to leave him behind and follow her original plan. She wanted to enter Blackbeard's ship to threaten him to tell her the truth about Graham. And she didn't have that much time anymore since his pirates were just rolling the last barrels on deck.

But Hook stopped her again and shoved her against the wall of the other house, "did you hear even a single word I said?"

"I don't care", she growled back and freed her arm. She would have loved to fight him just to get rid of him, but she knew it would draw too much attention and Blackbeard and his men would notice something. Hook was smiling at her like he understood her.

Emma snorted angrily and gave up, "what do you want?"

"After everything I've seen and heard so far you'd be an incredible pirate, Love."

"Not interested."

"You didn't even hear me out", he said amused.

"I don't need to. The answer is no."

"I could help you to get Blackbeard's head."

Emma grinned at him evilly, "I don't need your help."

His expression changed into something more serious, "and if you consider it as payment for a job?"

Emma raised both of her eyebrows in disbelieve, "I guess for such a job you should come here tonight again. There might be a woman foolish enough to agree."

Hook mirrored her reaction and raised one of his eyebrows, grinned suggestively and stepped closer invading her personal space just like he didn't know what that was at all, "I doubt they'd regret it, Love. But if-"

"Great.", she cut him off, "in that case we're done." She pushed him back breaking their eye contact, just to notice that he was still holding on to her wrist, which angered her more than she could say. She didn't have time for this.

"We're not", he insisted a little annoyed himself now that she hadn't let him flirt with her any longer, "you still didn't hear me out."

"And again: I'm not interested."

"You don't even know what it's about", Hook said calmly and let go of her.

"I don't need to. You are a pirate and I beat up half of your crew after selling one of them to the guards. There is no way I'd ever work with or for you."

The captain gave it a thought. Emma didn't need to ask him if he understood what she was referring to at all. It was obvious he understood that she believed, he'd betray her.

From the corner of her eyes she could see that there were still some pirates of Blackbeard's crew flirting around with wenches and haggling with merchants. Maybe she still had a moment left.

"Well", he said, "if you agree you'll just have to trust me, Love."

"Trust is something you tell little kids about so they can sleep well at night", Emma said without any hesitation from the depth of her heart, "control is better."

Hook stared at her for a moment before he grinned, "why don't you just hear me out?"

"Because you're wasting my time."

He was upset now, she could see it. But even though his smile was fading he stayed almost polite. Just his voice was revealing what he was holding back, "hear me out and we're done."

Emma sighed and he understood it as an agreement, "let's just say-"

She cut him off, "the truth, Hook. I don't have time for "let's just says" and especially not for lies."

She watched Blackbeard's pirates heading back to their ship one after the other and got nervous. Time was running out. Now they'd really leave and she wouldn't make it if she'd waste more time with this.

"Why do you want my help of all people?"

"Is it really important? I could lie to you", he pointed out to anger her and obviously enjoyed it since he was smiling at her again, "how are you going to check if I'm lying to you or not since you prefer control over trust?"

Emma suddenly had the impression that he was just trying to make time, that he actually wanted her to miss Blackbeard's ship, "you'll notice when I split you in half if you lie to me and waste my time any longer."

Hook's grin turned into the most serious expression she had seen on him so far, even though she knew that it was still fake, "I know a capable person if I see one."

Truth.

"I'm sure you'll find plenty of others here."

"But I need your abilities", he insisted.

Truth.

Emma frowned, "why? What for?"

Hook grinned, "to find someone."

Truth.

"Who?"

"Our friend Blackbeard", he answered seriously without breaking their eye contact. He was good. But not good enough.

Emma pulled a knife before Hook even noticed that she had discovered his lie. She would have pulled her sword if there would have been more space in the small lane between the houses.

He held up his hand to sign he wouldn't fight back.

"Your hook", Emma growled.

The Captain chuckled and held up his other arm, "you really should learn to trust, Love."

"As soon as you learn to lie, Pirate."

He frowned, "how did you even notice?"

"Not my fault if you can't lie properly", she answered and resisted the urge to take another look at the docks, because she perfectly knew he'd use that chance to fight back. She couldn't leave him out of her sight now.

He chuckled.

"You think that's funny?"

"No", he said and held up his chin a little higher to avoid the tip of her knife, which she was pressing harder against his neck, "I thought you didn't have time?"

"I always have time to get rid of you."

"Not if you want to get Blackbeard's head I'm afraid", he chuckled again just like she had missed the point of a joke.

Blackbeard!

She longed to check on the ship and the pirates now more than ever, but she still didn't want to give him the opportunity to attack her.

He understood her, "they're gone, Love."

Shit!

* * *

Nova watched the whole scene from afar floating over the small gab between the houses. She was floating even higher than the seagulls and enjoyed the light of the morning sun, while she focused on the two down on that lane. It was hard to focus on them while the panorama with the water and the sunrays sparkling on every white cup of the soft waves, was threatening to distract her. She couldn't understand what they were talking about, because she was floating too high and the noise from the harbor was to loud, but especially because most of what they were saying was quite fast and very silent.

She was highly worried. When Emma had just left her behind she already had expected something bad to happen, but she would've never thought it would be as bad as it was now.

Who would have thought Emma would actually run into Hook of all people? Sure first she had been glad Emma had been stopped from sneaking on board of Blackbeard's ship, but now she wasn't as happy anymore. She couldn't even say if it wouldn't have been better if she'd had entered that bloody ship. She couldn't even tell which pirate was worse anymore.

"Nova", a familiar voice asked for her. She froze. It was Blue. That she had just missed. Now she wouldn't even be able to help Emma if she'd need her. The risk to be caught by Blue while taking care of her even though she wasn't allowed to, was just too high.

"Nova?"

"I'm coming", the fairy said nervously and vanished immediately to where she was supposed to be now.

"Where have you been", Blue asked in a strict voice. They were floating above Snow White's and Charming's heads, who were sitting in their child's chamber. It was a nice and light room filled with toys, a huge bed and armchairs in front of a fireplace. Every kid would have loved to live in here.

Nova barely paid attention to them. She was too scared of Blue right now to care for anything else but the fairy in front of her.

"I'm sorry. I was in the gardens and totally forgot the time", she lied and her cheeks turned hot. She wasn't good at lying and it was surprising her a lot, that she had just come up with this one, like she had been thinking about it for hours.

Blue misunderstood her reaction, "at least you notice your mistake. You should have stayed with them."

Even though she was forgiving her the Blue Fairies expression stayed strict just like the way her brown hair was pulled back. She was dressed all in blue matching to her name and her dress was sparkling just as much as Nova's.

"I'm sorry, Blue", Nova looked at the sad pair underneath them. They hadn't noticed them yet. Maybe because they were still invisible. But invisibility didn't mute their words, so if they hadn't noticed the fairies talking yet, something bad had to had happened again, something that was completely drawing their attention.

Nova sighed feeling sorry for them as badly as something had just hit her, "what happened?"

"The last guards just came back."

"So?"

"Nothing", Blue said sadly, "there is no sign of Prince Henry."

"And the Evil Queen?"

"She is still searching for him", Blue sighed upset just like usual when they started to talk about Regina, who she didn't like even less far as she was able to throw her, which was equal to less than nothing, "it's too bad just like someone had taken him on purpose."

Nova frowned, "what do you mean with that? I thought he has been kidnapped right out of his bed. How couldn't that be on purpose then?"

Blue frowned, "he was the reason Snow White and Charming made peace with…Regina. It was because of him that they were able to meet and see each other without hurting or even murdering anyone. And now of all people who could have been taken, it's him who is missing?"

Snow White suddenly looked up to the ceiling, but since they were still invisible, she looked at a point right next to them, "you believe someone wants to cause another war between us?"

Worry was shining through her warm brown eyes. There was a hint of red in them, that proofed she had been crying for a long time. Her dark hair was reaching loose and uncombed to her back and created a perfect contrast to her white dress that had feathers stitched to its skirt. Even though she hadn't taken care of her hair and maybe she was still wearing the same, she had been dressed in the days before, she was looking beautiful.

Charming followed her gaze and seemed to be just as surprised as her especially since he had been thinking of the possibility of Regina being at fault over and over again. His brown eyes weren't red but his forehead was laid in folds. His blond hair was just as uncombed as Snow White's and he was looking like he hadn't slept at all. His blue trousers and the white shirt looked like Snow's dress so he hadn't changed as well.

"I believe so as well", Regina said all of a sudden entering the room but still keeping her distance to them. Things had changed when she had risked her own life to safe Henry two years before, but it was still strange for her to be accepted by the Charmings.

She didn't seem to be as sad as them at all. No, she was looking strong and unapproachable like always. The dark dress underlining her female features and the way her dark hair was bound up reminded of the old times, when she had been fighting Snow White and her Charming. Her black dress was traversed by red and a dark blue a raven's feathers hanging at her shoulders and her lips were colored just as red. Nova had to admit she was a little frightened by her, even though she knew that she was actually redeemed by now.

"But who would do that", Charming asked worried. Was there another thread they didn't know about yet? Wasn't it already enough that they had lost their little Emma all those years ago? And wasn't it already enough that it had taken them eighteen frozen in time years to finally have Henry? Hadn't they already suffered enough?

"I'm afraid it's true", Blue said and finally became visible, "there must still be someone out there who wants to make you suffer." Her eyes met Regina's, who she was still careful with, for a moment, "or all three of you."

"But who", Snow asked.

Charming turned to look at the witch, "is there anybody who'd do something like that to you?"

"It would be easier to think about the people who wouldn't", Regina said coldly.

Before Charming could say anything anymore Snow stated, "but there aren't many people who'd do that to us even though Regina is involved, Charming."

"Are you certain", Regina asked not even skeptically since she obviously didn't believe it herself.

Their eyes met, "yes."

Nova decided to leave again just when a familiar name was said, "even after everything that happened to your Emma?"

She turned around again and noticed that Snow was swallowing hard before she said very slowly, "you were the only one profiting from that."

"But I wasn't involved", Regina stated annoyed, "I didn't take her or she'd be dead by now."

Did they just say "Emma"?

"Just good we have evidence that she is still alive", Charming pointed out even though he seemed to be pretty upset with her, "we received a message that told us so. But we don't know anything about Henry."

"Just knowing she is alive is still not enough", Snow said sadly and weak, "but you're right. If I at least knew, Henry is still alive and healthy I guess it would be easier for me to fight on."

She almost cried as her husband took her in his arms supporting, "you need to have hope, my dear."

"It's so hard", she cried, "I don't have enough strength do it another time."

Regina looked at her feet so she wouldn't need to watch that scene in front of her, but Nova noticed the sadness in her eyes anyway. This was the most human emotion she had ever seen from Regina. Maybe she wasn't as frightening as she had always believed her to be? Maybe Green had been right about her back than anyway?

Blue flew down to the mourning couple ignoring the witch standing alone at the side and she remembered immediately, what had happened to Green for believing that Regina could be redeemed one day. The fairy had lost her wings and nobody knew what had happened to her ever since. She was lost not just for her vocation as a fairy but for anyone who was befriended with her or wanted to help her. Sure, there hadn't been a lot of fairies wishing to do that, since everyone believed in Blue's judgment, but the few ones who wanted to, had been searching for her for nothing. It was like she wasn't even part of the Enchanted Forest anymore, which was frightening everyone. Besides that she remembered immediately how many times the witch had proofed Blue to be right in the past.

No, it was definitely not reasonless to be afraid of her.

But it was different with Emma. She wasn't always doing the right thing and making the right decisions, sure. But she was only human and Nova could see the purity in her heart even though Emma didn't notice it herself.

Nova stopped to listen to them. There was a ringing sound in her ears that made it impossible to hear anything else anymore. It was a very loud sound of a carillon ringing through the wind. She had heard this before when she had rushed back to that damn town. She was called. Emma!


	4. The uninvited guest

4. The uninvited guest

She pushed him back and caught a climbs of Blackbeard's ship leaving the harbor the sunlight lighting up the red sails spreading a red light across the whole ship, so it seemed like it was bathed in blood. She had screwed up. However, she didn't have enough time to think about it or anything else, because Hook had decided to attack her just in this moment like she had expected him to before.

He caught her right arm and pulled her hand with the knife down using his hook while he held his own one to her neck and pushed her back against the wall again.

Emma tried to free her arm and placed her left one on his shoulder, where his neck ended feeling the fabric of his thick and for sure heavy cloak. She tried to shove him back but it was useless.

He grinned thinking he had won. Stupid pirate!

"Will you listen to me now?"

"Do I look like I'll listen?"

"No", he grinned even more, "you look like you want to kill me."

True. Maybe he wasn't as stupid as she had believed him to be. He was just full of himself enough to oversee that he had a problem.

"Maybe I do."

"You don't have a chance", his smile vanished. This almost sounded like an honest warning, "all you can do is listening to me."

"Not interested", she growled and moved her arm in his hook so that the knife, she was still holding in her hand, was pointing at his most precious point.

Hook raised an eyebrow and looked down at it as soon as he noticed something at his leg, "nice try. But I'm afraid I'll still need that", he pulled her arm behind her back and came even closer, "need proof?"

"There is nothing you could proof to me."

He grinned and changed the subject proofing to her that he wasn't as much a jackass as she had seen other pirates before. They had tried to use their opportunities to actually proof, what kind of men they were, just when Emma had saved the poor women in their grips. She had saved them when the pirates had wanted to take advantage of their sad situations pushed in a corner without even being able to hope to get any help. But not Hook. Maybe even a pirate could have some pride after all.

"Let's talk about my offer to you", he said getting back to business and stared into her eyes, "it won't be easy, might take long and definitely will be risky."

"Define risky", Emma demanded and moved her left hand on his shoulder so it came closer to his neck and switched under his cloak. Her fingers were lying perfectly now. She ignored the softness of the hair in his neck and the warmth of his skin.

"It could cost your life", he said without noticing it at all or at least he didn't think it to be important. Maybe he even judged it to be a try to flirt with him, now that her chances to escape were so bad.

Again, he was telling the truth. She even knew that without using her special ability. Who on earth would lie about something like that if he wanted to get something? Nobody.

Emma was curious enough to take the risk and wait a little longer now, "what is it about?"

"I need to find someone", he answered cryptically, "but you'll have to take the job to get more information."

"If you don't tell me who you are searching, how am I supposed to know if I can find him", she tried to force him to tell her everything ignoring the feeling of his skin and the warmth of it underneath her fingers.

"I know you can."

"How dangerous will this be", she ignored the tension in these words and focused on their conversation even though it was hard for her. That sentence had felt like he had told her he believed in her, which was totally impossible and insane. She knew why she was thinking like that. She hadn't had someone to believe in her for quite a while. To be exactly, ever since Graham had died.

"You couldn't be in danger more than through this."

Emma stared into his eyes. He had told the truth or at least he believed it to be the truth, which was reason enough to be even more careful.

"Why do you tell me that", she frowned still surprised why he would be so honest with her, when he actually wanted her to team up with him.

"You deserve to know it, when you join me", he answered as if she had already made her decision. She was honestly surprised that he actually implied he was giving her one, when he was threatening her like this. It was strange and completely contradictory.

"Is there any magic involved?"

"Maybe."

"Forget it."

Hook stared at her, "come on, Love", he came closer, "I know you can make it."

"That's not the point", she stated and resisted the urge to shake her head, since she would only cut herself with the knife, he was still holding to her neck, "I'm not nuts enough to get involved with magic."

"You're tough", Hook admitted after a moment of staring each other down to get what they wanted, "even though you've lost you still make an honest decision. I appreciate people like that, still willing to fight even though they've already lost."

Emma grinned at him and his expression turned into confusion, "I don't. But you have."

Before he could do anything, she pressed her fingers at the reflex point in his neck and sent him to his knees grunting of pain, before she knocked him out with her knee.

Emma looked down at him. She frowned. Somehow, this had been way too easy. Her instincts warned her that something was off and she usually could trust them.

Hook was a pirate who had avoided to be caught for years and now she was supposed to believe, she could simply nock him out like that? If it was real, she had indeed every reason to be disappointed now. She resisted the urge to lean down to him and check if he really was unconscious and took a last look around, before she chose the small way through between the houses instead of the crowded street along the harbor, even though every cell in her body was telling her to do that. Every child would have taken that route and she didn't want to end up in a trap she could easily avoid, if she wouldn't be too naïve.

When she reached a lower roof, she pulled herself up on the straw that was covering the house and climbed up to its top carefully so she wouldn't fall down. She looked around and noticed some men running down the harbor to the lane Hook was lying at while others ran through that very same alley towards Hook from the opposite direction. She had been right after all. It had been a trap and now her only escape was leading across the roofs of the houses in this town.

"Emma", Nova suddenly appeared in front of her out of nowhere and startled her so she almost lost balance and fell off the roof.

Emma steadied herself again and stared at the fairy who already seemed to understand everything and sprinkled fairy dust on her.

"Believe", she said and smiled before she pushed Emma down the roof to the opposite side of the roof.

She already believed she would hit the ground and imagined what it would feel like if she'd crush into the stony ground and how people would start to scream as soon, as they'd understand what had happened, because she didn't believe in herself, as she started to think of Nova and how she had taken care of her wounds without any medicine and started to fly.

* * *

"Ya okay, Captain", Frank Blake one of his younger pirates with blond hair and green eyes asked as he helped him to stand up. The young man was as inexperienced in being a pirate as a fish was in riding a horse. But he usually did his best and he was quite good at cooking.

"Aye", Hook said darkly and reached for the place where his neck ended in his shoulder that was still aching quite a lot. What ever she had done to him, it hadn't just been successful but also very painful. He could still enjoy the aftertaste of it. He frowned. There was no wound, even though he had expected it after feeling her pushing her fingers into his flesh or whatever it had been, she had done. He sniffed air as he turned his face to the left and felt the pain increasing at his neck to his right, "did you catch her?"

Blake's face turned white shy as he was and he already knew the answer even before he spelled it out, "her? No, Captain. We waited at both ends of the lane but there wasn't anyone. She simply disappeared."

Hook sighed in annoyance, "and you guys told me about a huge and strong man."

Blake looked down at his hands guiltily while Hook searched the lane for the other pirates, "where are the others?"

"Searching for her", the pirate said in low voice still avoiding his eyes. So his men had left behind the puppy to tell him the bad news, hoping he would feel sorry for him instead of punishing them and on top of that, they were looking for a man even though they had too search a woman.

Hook looked up to the sun his hand lying in his neck to support it hoping he could avoid most of the pain through it and sighed, "they won't find any trace of her. She is too good."

"But somehow she must have escaped, Sir."

Hook frowned as he noticed the roofs on top of the houses surrounding them. His thoughts were running wild thinking of what he would have done if their places had been reversed. He knew it and the moment he understood, it was the moment he had to admit that she definitely was gone and they wouldn't find any trace of her, "she escaped across the roofs."

"What", Blake said naively and surprised as he stared at him in disbelieve, before his eyes wandered to the roofs, as if he couldn't believe they were actually there.

"Go find someone of the crew", Hook ordered disappointed, "tell them we're searching for a blond woman."

"Aye", Blake said hesitantly and ran to the harbor while Hook stared at a roof of straw. If they wouldn't find her, he would have to change his plans. It was frustrating.

When they had found out that Scumpy had been caught and delivered to the guards in a town in the south-west he had been surprised. He had been curious to find the person who had done that hoping he would be skillfully enough to help him. But when his men had returned looking like they had been beat up by another crew and talking of a huge and strong man who had done it all alone (which he had to lure out of them before they were willing to admit it) two nights before, he had been impressed. It had taken him hours until his crew had told him everything he needed to know except one little detail, which they hadn't noticed themselves, as it seemed.

At first, he had recognized her as the strange person watching him at the tavern several days ago, while he had tried to distract himself and impress his men by flirting with one of the prostitutes, before they would buy him one again believing they were doing him a favor. He wasn't a saint - he had never been and sometimes he had even enjoyed his time with a wench they had bought him or a woman he had chosen himself. But that particular night he hadn't had fun with her. He just hadn't been able to get involved with her fully. He had just toyed around and in the end he had send her away. Seeing that strange person with his hood hanging deep into his face his pleasure in the whole thing had turned into nothing and he had lost interest completely. Back than he had believed it to be possible that he had been found and that he was in trouble again.

On his way back to the Jolly Roger that night he had been more than carefully checking every corner even on his ship, believing that she had finally found him and the strange figure at the tavern had been her way of playing around and warning him. Never would he have believed to find out that stranger was a woman hunting for bounties.

In addition, even as he had found her at this harbor he had no idea they were the same persons. He had hoped he could convince her to work for him and if not he had planned to simply force her to. But that had been before he had discovered that she was a woman. After that, everything had gone wrong somehow. He had underestimated her because of her soft skin and her beautiful blond hair ignoring the weapons at her belt and maybe even in her boots and the back of her trousers. He had been sure he could charm her into helping him and yes, he had enjoyed playing around with her while she kept pushing him away in every possible way. He had enjoyed it more than he had found pleasure in joking with that wench at the tavern, especially after he had noticed the fire in her eyes and her whole character as far as he had gotten to know her.

In the end, she had been more of a thread and more skillfully as he had expected her to be even after everything his men had told him and what they had been looking like after fighting with her. He had underestimated her and he had lost focus through angering her and making her green eyes glow a little. He had enjoyed it too much to destroy her thoughtless plan of getting into trouble with Blackbeard and in the end, he had lost.

Hook didn't wait for his men to tell him what he had just realized and accepted namely that they wouldn't find her like this anymore. He went back to the Jolly Roger.

The way things were now he'd have to stay in this town longer than he had planned to in the first place, since she was just perfect for what he had planned. He needed another chance to catch her, to convince her to help him. Bloody hell! There had to be something she wanted badly enough to make a deal with him.

Hook sighed.

He wasn't bad at finding people, he had done it himself in the past and he had been quite successful back than. He had even found Rumpelstiltskin's little girlfriend in one of the Evil Queen's cells. But ever since his little encounter with said queen and her mother Cora twenty-seven years ago, which had been quite disappointing in regards of finding Rumpelstiltskin especially with all of their skills and promises, his trials had been inconclusive. Sometimes he even believed it was their fault, he couldn't succeed anymore.

Maybe they kept interfering him all the time? Maybe that was their way of taking revenge on him? Or did they have their own plans and he was an obstacle to them all of a sudden?

Hook walked up the plank to his ship, which he loved more than anything else in the world ever since Milah's death. It was the only thing he could relay on without being disappointed. He could always believe in his marvelous Jolly Roger. She was everything he had left. The pirates came and left again and by now, there were maybe around ten of them left who had started to sail with him on this ship all those years ago when his brother had been captain of it. Even Smee, who was one of the men who were closer to him for one or another reason, hadn't been with them back than. But his Jolly Roger had always been there. She had always been loyal and she had always been reliable. She had survived several fights and they had escaped Blackbeard who had wanted to enter her, when he had heard of the magical wood she was made of.

Yes, he knew Blackbeard. He had already fought him and he had won, but nobody had ever heard of it. His men had never told anybody about it, especially not since they had to fear their own captain just like every other enemy and Hook had insisted to keep it a secret because he hadn't wanted to become too famous.

Blackbeard was a braggart always searching for fame and maybe being even the most rotten and cruel pirate Hook had ever met before. Blackbeard was willing to do everything for what he wanted no matter what the consequences would be, he confused fear with respect and believed loyalty to be the right to do what he wanted with his sailors, even if that meant he was treading them like the dirt under his boots. If a sailor wasn't as rotten as him he couldn't even get close to him and if a sailor wasn't close to Blackbeard, he was treated like a slave and could be killed just as easily as an animal in order to feet from it right on deck.

She didn't know it yet, but he had saved her life by disturbing her plans before. Hook looked down at his boots and stopped in the middle of the plank. It would have been a waste to lose her like that. It would have been a waste to have Blackbeard kill her with all the abilities she seemed to have. He felt like he had found an unicorn. A woman like her was quite seldom and so was her goal as far as he had been able to judge about it, after seeing her planning to sneak on Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge.

Hook snorted. That name was just as inflated as his whole ship and the tales he was spinning around it and himself. Through those tales, everyone knew about the big and bad Blackbeard. Sometimes he almost regretted that he had forbidden spreading the story of his fight against that puffed rooster and that he, Captain Hook, had beat him.

But after all that fame Blackbeard had earned through his tales and stories and his rottenness and cruelty Hook wouldn't have been able to enjoy is normal and calmly life and for sure he wouldn't have been able to avoid Cora searching for him everywhere, not to mention to kill Rumpelstiltskin without him noticing anything before he'd succeed, if people would have suddenly started to celebrate him or to fear him even more than that pirate.

That had been the only reason to keep the story to himself and the men who were part of his crew. Nobody else needed to know about their fight. Nevertheless, it would have been great to see Blackbeard's expression if anyone would have found out about it especially since Hook hadn't killed him but left him alive.

As soon as he entered the deck of the Jolly Roger, he noticed that something was off. Was it just thanks to his imagination or were even the seagulls circling the tip of his main mast more silent than ever? But his sails floating in the wind on the other hand seemed to be incredibly loud. Even the wood of his vessel seemed to be cracking louder in their natural movements floating on the water. He felt as if he was being watched but he already knew that nobody was there even though he had expected at least two pirates to stay here to guard his ship. That he couldn't find anyone was alarming more than enough.

Hook placed his hand on the held of his sword ready to pull it every second and approached the hatch that lead below deck where his captain's quarters, some smaller cabins and the huge storeroom were, where most of his men usually slept in their hammocks. There was nobody there as far as he could see it and nobody attacked him, but still he was feeling that someone was there.

He checked the whole ship before he stopped in front of his own door. Would there be someone inside there? He had locked the door before he had left the Jolly Roger to search for that woman, but now the door was just ajar nothing more. Therefore, there definitely had to be someone.

"Are you going to stand out there forever", a female voice asked bored when he had opened the door completely and stopped in the doorway, "if you're planning to do so, please close the door."

A woman with black hair that was bound up at the back of her head and dark eyes was standing in front of the window in the heck of the Jolly Roger. She was dressed in black and her dress had feathers of a raven at her shoulders. He could even see some dark red and blue between the black color of it. It was stinging to her like a second skin but didn't seem too tight and it underlined her neckline he could perfectly see.

He slowly entered the room holding back a frustrated sigh just to stand in front of the one person he had whished to never see on this ship. Okay there might have been more than one he didn't want to see here, but she definitely belonged to his top three. However, he had to admit it could have been worse.

"What are you doing here?"

She grinned, "I've got a job for you."

Hook frowned when he closed the door behind his back. Her tasks usually ended with him almost dying and since she didn't really like him, he could be certain this task would be awful. The first time she had had a task for him he had almost been beheaded thanks to her mother, who might have been the second worse person in the world he knew.

Regina grinned just as if she knew his thoughts but something was different about her. There was something in her eyes, he had never seen before. Was it softness? Or pain? He had heard stories about her making peace with Snow White and her husband, which he always had believed to be simple tales and nothing more. Regina might have been the only person he knew, who had been driven by vengeance more than him. In the past, she had given everything to kill Snow White and that for sure had been a lot. Bloody hell she had even brought her mother back from Wonderland through using him in order to take revenge on Snow White. There had been no way he would have ever believed those stories. He couldn't even imagine what could have happened that she would have made peace with her at all.

Hook resisted the urge to ask if those tales were true and what had changed. He didn't really want to know it. Actually, he just wanted her to leave again, "what job?"

"You've got to find someone for me", she said suddenly quite serious, "someone very important to me."

"Who", he asked suspicious since he had already heard something equal to those words twenty-seven years ago.

"A boy", she answered without hesitation, "he is eleven and his name is Henry."

Hook frowned but refused himself to ask what she wanted with that kid. It was easier not to care about it. It locked out pictures popping up in his mind that were not just awful but disgusting, "don't you have any more information?"

"No", she simply said, "but I know where you should search first."

Somehow, he had the feeling that he wouldn't like this at all, "let me guess: Wonderland?"

"No", she answered and judging her suddenly cramped lower jaw, he assumed she remembered what he was referring to perfectly, "and I can't send anyone else."

"What about Graham?"

Regina's face turned as cold as he knew it from their past together, but in her eyes he could still notice a hint of sorrow if he wasn't mistaken, "he can't do it. She wasn't happy when my plan failed."

He didn't need to ask what she was talking about at all. "She" was her mother Cora and if that woman had taken out her anger on the huntsman then he could be lucky that he was still alive.

Hook frowned as he stumbled over that thought and studied the witch in front of him more carefully. If he was still alive…

But the way Regina was reacting to this he was almost certain she hadn't had her hands in it whatever had happened to Graham. She wasn't proud enough to have been involved in hurting him if that was all what had happened to him. But on the other hand she had changed as much as he wasn't certain anymore, that she would be proud of it, even if she had been involved in it. She wasn't flirting and even though she tried very hard to appear like it, she wasn't as scary as twenty-seven years ago anymore.

He didn't ask her about it any further. She didn't know of her mother's plans from back then that had also failed because everything had turned out different from what she had planned. He didn't want to talk about it especially not with her. However, even if he would have wanted to ask about Graham he wouldn't have had the opportunity, since she already asked just as if he actually had an opinion in this, "so? Will you do it?"

They both knew he didn't have a saying in this. He never had. The point was he didn't know if it would be worse to say no or to simply agree to it. He didn't really want to listen to that very small voice in the back of his mind which was still able to hope that the obstacle he would have to face, if he'd agree to it, would be less awful, than what she would do to him, if he'd decide to rebel against her. Regina might have lost something of her acuteness, but she was still Regina after all. No matter what she appeared to be like, the possibility that it was just an act and her old personality was still lingering somewhere inside her waiting for a moment or even a single word to set her free again, was pretty high.

He wasn't as afraid as a little kid would have been and he would have never admitted that he was feeling something like fear at all, but he wasn't stupid or even insane as well. To say no would be exactly that. However, saying yes could be as well. He wasn't naïve enough to believe he could pick right for himself, because he already new no matter what he chose it would be wrong.

* * *

"What are you doing?"

"Sch."

She rolled her eyes almost regretted that she had come back to help her. It had been pointless in the end. She would never change. Slowly she could see why Blue was thinking like that and it was annoying her that she was close to giving up on her herself now. She had seen Emma's potential and she had really hoped she would change but as she had to watch her searching for those pirates right after she had just been saved by her it had been like a slap in her face.

Secretly Nova had to criticize her own decision. Instead of bringing her to a place in this town between some houses far away from the harbor, she should have brought her into the woods or even behind it bringing as much space between her and the pirates as possible.

Emma checked the street filled with people walking down to the market and a farmer loading his carriage with the rest of the goods he had delivered to a tavern, for any pirates before she left her hiding place in the small lane she had reached just minutes ago and walked down the street. She had taken off her cloak because it was the first thing the pirates would recognize and had bound it around her waist so it almost looked like a skirt.

"Could you tell me what you're planning, please", Nova whispered floating beside her ear like a fly and looking around nervously.

"I need to find them", Emma whispered back without looking at her or even moving her lips too much since nobody was able to see Nova besides her and it would have been strange if she were talking with the air, "he interfered in my plan and I want his head for that."

They were walking down the street while avoiding people who were weather heading in a different direction or a lot more slowly than her. Emma checked every person they passed no matter if it was a woman or just a very young boy. Everyone seemed to be a possible thread for her. But the fairy couldn't blame her for that. They were in town of outlaws after all.

Nova sighed and rolled her eyes, "seriously? I think you should send him some flowers for stopping you. He actually did you a favor, you know? Who knows what would have happened to you if you would have succeeded in getting on that ship."

"I know what would have happened. That's why I'm so angry", Emma said before she suddenly stopped when she noticed someone running down the street all on his own like he was searching for something or someone. Someone like her maybe?

Nova crashed into her neck, "sorry. Didn't notice you would st-"

"Sch."

Nova frowned and looked to the side into the direction Emma was focusing on. This was bad. That man, she had noticed him before when she had been taking Emma with her. He had entered that lane the pirate had been lying unconscious the moment they had left that roof.

His hair was blonde and he hadn't even one scratch on his skin as far as they could see it. He was dressed in a white shirt and brown trousers that seemed to be dirty from cooking. His only weapon was a knife he had bound clumsily to his pants since he wasn't wearing a belt. He was quite thin and he seemed more than nervous and quite in a hurry.

Nova looked at her protégé and tried feverishly to come up with an idea to stop her from attacking that pirate when she noticed the grin in Emma's face and despaired. She had less time than she had thought. Emma already had a plan.

"Wait here", Emma whispered and wanted to approach him.

Nova stopped her, "what are you planning to do?"

The woman sighed, "I'll get him."

"But you actually want Hook", Nova hurried to say and floated after her in a hurry until she surrounded her and stopped right in front of her face forcing her stop as well, "and you won't find him, if you beat up that poor kid."

"Kid?"

"You know what I mean. He won't help you and you won't get Hook", the fairy said fast, "and that could be a trap, you know?"

Emma bit her lip and stared at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she was still able to see the pirate who had stumbled over a basked of a farmer loading his carriage and kept apologizing to him. He was clumsy and he was very young. He couldn't be worth the work yet. And Nova had been right. She wanted Hook and nobody else.

"Fine", she finally said noticing how relieved Nova seemed to be, "I'll follow him to their ship. There I should be able to find Hook."

"No", Nova said disappointed and looked at her in despair. Now she regretted that she had stopped her. It had been stupid.

They followed the young pirate almost through the whole town always searching for his mates to tell them something as it seemed. Emma already had a guess about what they were talking. If she wasn't mistaken then those men were trying to find her and the pirate she was following through the whole town was telling them whom they were actually searching for what was increasing the danger for her from minute to minute. But the men's reactions were almost funny to see especially the one of the pirate who had pulled her into their trap. He seemed quite angry to hear that she was just a woman, if she was right about the theme of their conversation. His reaction was totally matching to what she had expected from him.

Nova who had been following her in silence finally spoke out what was troubling her, "ah…Emma…how old are you?"

"Twenty-seven", she answered and stepped behind a merchant's booth when the bear-like pirate suddenly looked in their direction. She didn't want to take the risk to be noticed before she'd find their ship and she completely concentrated on it. She barely paid attention to Nova's words.

"And…don't you have anyone worrying about you", now Nova had made it. Emma stared at her in confusion and surprise and she finally had her complete attention, "well, I was just wondering how someone could life with always worrying about you."

"There is nobody."

"Not even a mother or a father?"

"No", Emma said angry in a voice that ended their conversation, "there is nobody."

Nova followed her in silence now. She actually wanted to ask more questions but she didn't know how. She could hardly ask Emma if she knew her parents, could she? At least not at the moment. But she would need to do it later on at least if she wanted to find out if she really was Snow White's and Charming's daughter.

Well, if she was looking at her now rushing into the direction of the forest that parted the town from the ocean in the south she could even notice something she could have in common with Snow White and Charming.

But similarities in looks weren't proof enough to be certain that they actually were related. Especially not if she had to tell an orphan and parents who had been searching for her missing daughter for twenty-seven years that they might be a family and it could turn out to be wrong. Nova didn't even want to imagine what they would have to endure if she'd be mistaken about it. No. She needed to have proof for it before she could tell anyone about her presumption.

Emma ran through the forest always trying to make just as less noise as possible until they reached the water and she decided to hide behind a bush. The pirate ran straight to a ship harboring at an old wharf that looked like it was about to rot through.

"What now?"

"Now we wait", Emma said slowly, "I want to watch the ship before I enter it. His men will be distracted for a few hours more until they'll just give up on searching for me. But I need to make sure nobody else is there."

"How?"

"I'll go closer", she said and made her way through the woods. Nova stared after her for a moment before she decided to sneak on deck herself first.

* * *

Nova would have never believed it to be possible but she definitely was furious. Following Emma through the whole town for a whole day always searching and avoiding pirates at the same time while trying to convince a woman who turned out to be the most stubborn person in the whole Enchanted Forest had been more than frustrating. Emma was able to drive her nuts and once more, she noticed how hard it was to stay with her instead of just leaving her. But her pride as a fairy was stopping her from running away from her task. Not to mention that she was quite stubborn herself and she didn't want to admit that Blue might be right about Emma. A fairy giving up on her client easily wasn't worth her name. No, she wouldn't give up. Well, not yet.

Nova followed the young man they had been following the entire time under deck sneaking through the doors he left open before they fell shut again since she wasn't able to simply appear out of nowhere like a witch or The Dark One. She needed something she could appear through like the open windows at Snow's castle.

The hardest door had been the hatch that lead under deck. As it had fallen shut again it had almost crushed her. She was too small to stop a door like that without using her fairy dust and she couldn't use it for herself but only for the people, she was taking care of.

She followed the young pirate until he stopped in front of a door in the back of the ship. He seemed very nervous and hesitated before he knocked with a trembling hand. Somehow, she knew that Hook had to be in there. It was something in the way the pirate was acting while waiting to be invited inside that revealed it to her.

Actually, she thought the pirate in front of her didn't belong here at all. He seemed to be totally out of place like a sheep among a bunch of wolves.

Something moved inside the room and he was called inside before he opened the door. He didn't step inside but stayed in the doorframe. Like that, it was almost impossible for Nova to get inside, as it seemed.

"What", she heard a man ask in a bad mood and assumed it to be Hook himself.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Sir", the young man said shyly while Nova went into a descent and snaked through his legs into the room, "but I just talked to Base and he confirmed that they hadn't found even a trace from her."

"They shall keep searching", Hook said standing in front of a desk that was parting the room. The sunlight reaching through the huge window behind it was lightning his back so it was hard to see his face. Nova flew up and hide in a shelf to the right side of the door. She could sense that there was something wrong in this room even though she couldn't see anything that would have been proof for it.

"And Blake", Hook said before his sailor left the room again, "tell Smee I want to talk with him, as soon as you see him."

"Aye, Sir."

The door shut again and Blake disappeared with his orders leaving Hook and Nova all alone in the room. It was a nice room for a cabin on a ship. The light streaming through the window lighted up everything even to the smallest spot. The desk in front of it was made of dark wood perfectly contrasting to the white of the white wood the whole room was colored in. To the left of the door was a single bed that was painted just as white as the rest of the room. It reached from one end of the room to the other but the smaller half of it that ended at the wall with the door seemed to be a box or something like that. In the right corner behind the desk was standing a huge chest bound to the wall it was standing at for sure so it wouldn't fall through the room if the sea was getting stormier than usual.

Nova noticed something moving out of the corner of her eye and decided to hide behind something at best as far away of it as possible. Regina appeared out of nowhere sitting on the bed her legs crossed and her head pushed up on the palm of her left hand.

What on earth was Regina doing here? Had Blue been right and the witch hadn't changed in the end? Was she still the "Evil Queen" and Henry's disappear was her fault? Was that possible? Or was she here because of something else? But no matter what it was about it couldn't be something good since she was meeting a pirate like Hook. There were so many rumors in the world about Hook that it was impossible that nothing of it was true. And since the most of them were putting him into a bad light, Hook had to be an evil person as well. So meeting him meant nothing good about Regina and her changed personality.

Nova who was still invisible and small hid behind a huge bottle of rum standing in the shelf she was hiding in. The liquid inside the transparent bottle was shaking in the rhythm of the waves slightly moving the ship. From this place, she was able to see everything and Regina wouldn't notice her. The witch wouldn't notice her presence, or at least she hoped so. Nova was nervous after all.

Regina stood up, approached the chair in front of Hook's desk to take a seat without waiting for an offer and crossed her legs again. She seemed to be relaxed and acted as if she owned this place, but there was a hint of anger, pain and worry in her eyes if you took a closer look.

Hook who hadn't said anything yet didn't seem to be too happy to see her. It was more as if he would have preferred to never see her again, "sorry. Where did we stop?"

"You had to make a decision", Regina said and stared at him, "so, have you made it?"

The pirate raised an eyebrow, "decision? It's not like I have a choice to begin with, do I?"

"No", the witch answered seriously even though Nova had expected her to laugh or at least to smile over her power in this situation. She didn't understand what this was about yet. It was as she had stepped into a conversation they already had before Blake had opened that door for her without knowing about it.

"Why are you still here?"

"You don't want me here?"

Hook grinned, "it's not like that. It's more that I expected you to have vanished again, since you seem to have better things to do than to stick around here and talk with me. I enjoy that, don't get me wrong, but I thought you'd be too busy with more important stuff. Or have you missed me all those years?"

Even though his words were nicely and his voice was sending out his manipulating charms he had already used on Emma earlier that day, there was a critical undertone in it. His words were full of sarcasm and if Nova wasn't mistaken even anger.

Regina's glance turned icier if that was even possible, "I want to know your plan."

Nova leaned forward pushing herself up from the glass with her hands to both sides of her head until her breath fogged the glass of the bottle she was still hiding behind as much as she had to clean it up in order to see anything again.

She had to listen carefully now. This was not about Emma anymore even though that would already have made it important enough to listen carefully but about the whole Enchanted Forest if she'd discover that Regina was still the Queen she'd been once and was fooling everyone now.

Maybe she'd even find out about Prince Henry.

"Why", Hook's grin vanished and he straightened his back just as if he was bracing himself for what was about to come.

"You'll need to break in without losing your heart after all", she answered, "or she'll make you just another one of her puppets and I really do not need that. Therefore, I need to know your plan to tell you what's possible and what's not. And maybe, just if you ask me really nicely of course, I can give you a helping hand."

"I don't need your help. I know how to break into a witch's castle. I've done it before, remember?"

"Indeed. And I remember that I caught you. Do you remember that", her voice was very sharp end even icier than before, "and if you remember how easy it had been for me to catch you in the process, I'm sure you understand how hard it'll be to do that job at her castle without getting caught again, Hook. She is far worse than me, remember?"

The captain sighed and leaned back in his chair. It was obvious he did remember, but it was also obvious that he didn't want her help. Hook didn't trust her. But Nova wasn't certain that he hated her. It was more as if she had offered him something to eat but he already was too satisfied.

"I don't need your help", he said after a little moment.

"Are you afraid", Regina asked mockingly and raised an eyebrow.

"Of what?"

"Of her", she said simply and plain, "or are you afraid I could betray you the way you betrayed me?"

"I'm not afraid", Hook said angrily but kept his poker face. He didn't actually reveal what he was thinking and feeling but Nova had the impression he had said this to protect his position as pirate captain and maybe even more as a man.

"Then what are you waiting for", Regina asked and stood up full of enthusiasm before she became impatient, "why aren't you calling for your men? Where are they anyway?"

"There is something I need for my plan", Hook explained completely relaxed. It almost seemed, as he was even more relaxed the more impatient Regina became. It was just as if he had fun to provoke her and Regina didn't even notice it and it could have been ridiculous if Nova would have understood what they were talking about.

"Don't tell me it's about your stupid revenge on Rumpelstiltskin", Regina rolled her eyes and stepped away from his desk. Her expression changed and she looked at him suspiciously, "or is this about a woman?"

"Why would you think that", he grinned widely.

"You're a womanizer, Hook."

"Jealous?"

Regina didn't answer him, "it's a waste of time anyway. Henry is far more important than any of this. Do you understand?"

Regina seemed to be quite threatening now. Even the room around her seemed to change. The light seemed to vanish and the shadows melted with the upcoming darkness around them.

Nova leaned back and pulled her arms around her knees tighter as if it could ease her fear. Of course, it was useless. The only comfort she had was that she'd crept behind a box beside the bottle of rum to hide more carefully as soon as Regina had walked away from Hook's desk.

"Don't worry. I have a plan", Hook said keeping his relaxed mask just as if he wasn't impressed at all.

Regina became very silent. She just stood in front of his desk starring down at him. Nova had heard that the witch had always been the most dangerous when she had been silent and angry. Her cold anger had always been the worst she could come up with and everything now seemed to lead into that direction.

"Not afraid I could decide that I don't need you anymore?"

Hook grinned, "but you do or you wouldn't talk so much but just kill me, my dear."

Regina sighed and really calmed down now, which was surprising since Nova had expected her to attack him according to her words, "what is it you need for your plan."

"Why do you care", Hook asked once more and his grin vanished as he became more serious even though his voice sounded mockingly, "do you want to give it to me?"

"Do I look like your fairy godmother? Of course not."

"Well in that case you don't need to know."

Regina raised an eyebrow and it seemed, as she wasn't certain if, she'd ask anything more, drop the subject again or simply punish him for his rudeness. Nova held her breath until the witch spoke again, "no matter what it is you're searching for, make sure to start with your task soon. I'm not just warning you because I'm so impatient but because we do not need her to find out about our plan and she'll expect something to happen as soon as she finds out Henry is gone."

"Oh, you're worried for me? I'm flattered", he chuckled his hand placed on his chest.

Regina almost laughed, "no, Hook. I don't care if you lose your head. But if she finds out it'll only become harder to get back my Henry and I don't want to risk his live any more than it's already the case because of a foolish and stupid pirate wasting my time and my energy with his stupid wish for revenge and his ridiculous behavior."

For a second Nova expected him to argue about the stupidity of his whish for revenge like a little kid, but he didn't, "why are you so certain she doesn't already know about the prince?"

"Because there are only fifteen people who know and if I would have had to decide about it there would have been even less."

Hook raised an eyebrow skeptically, "and you believe that? We're talking of your mother after all. If Co-"

"Don't say her name", Regina interrupted him almost shouting, "she has cursed her name so she'll find you as soon as you say it, Hook. Unlike me she still keeps a grudge against you."

Hook seemed to be almost shocked to hear this. His face was pale and he stared at her out of widened eyes, "what?"

"She wants to catch you", Regina stated slowly, "or at least she wanted to twenty-seven years ago."

"But my men might have used it several times back than. Why didn't she show up here?"

"Because you must be the one to use it or at least someone involved in damaging my curse."

"I didn't damage it", he defended himself weakly, "I just screwed up the other thing you wanted me to do after bringing back your mother."

"Which you shouldn't have done the way you did it", Regina growled, "but you always tend to take your own spin on orders, don't you?"

"Maybe because I'm usually the one giving them."

"Not if you're involved with someone stronger than you", Regina stared him down, "and we both know that."

"And why doesn't she just show up here? She must have different ways to find someone", he asked ignoring her objection.

"Your ship", she answered like it was obvious, "its magic is protecting you from any location spell."

"If that's the case how did you find me then?"

"You left your ship in the past two days for several times. Unlike my mother I have ways to search for you all the time without being personal invested in it."

"What ways", he asked curiously and frowned. Nova couldn't blame him for that. She wanted to know about it very badly, too.

"Let's say a friend who is always following me just like a reflection in a mirror is helping me", something about this seemed to amuse her quite a lot.

"And when did you plan to tell me about it", he asked annoyed.

Regina almost laughed, "ups, I forgot. Well, now you know about it."

Hook clenched his teeth together as hard as you could see his jaw move. He would have damaged something or even hurt Regina if it hadn't been the witch herself treating him like that for sure.

The light came back into the room since Regina was so amused about his reaction, "I give you twenty-four hours to leave this place and start your mission, pirate. Don't try me through staying longer than that. You're not as important as you believe you are after all."

Nova crawled back behind the bottle so she could see them again just as she vanished in a smoke of purple her words still hanging in the air just as if the room was repeating it for her so Hook wouldn't forget. It was amazing to see but at the same time, it was quite creepy just as if she would never leave this place completely.

Hook didn't seem as relaxed as before now that she was gone. He was still angry while he walked up and down the room, his forehead turned into a worried frown just as if he was a tiger caught in a cage. His voice was a furious scream, "Mr. Smee."

Nova placed her hands on the cold glass of the bottle again and watched him curiously. She had found out several things listening to them and most of them were still confusing her while others made her worry for Emma and Prince Henry.

First of all: Regina and Hook had a connection even though she didn't really understand of what kind it was.

Second: Hook somehow had been involved in damaging Regina's Dark Curse, which was quite surprising for her. She hadn't expected anything like that and she was almost certain that not even Blue knew about that, which proofed the pirate to be a wild card again.

Third: Regina was searching for Henry with help she hadn't mentioned in front of Snow White, Charming, Blue or anyone else before, which could turn out to be a problem for her, when Nova would tell anyone about what she had just witnessed. She didn't know if she should say anything. Regina was searching for the prince just like everyone else after all, which was proof that she hadn't taken him. However, it was confusing that she didn't share her ideas and plans with anyone. So maybe she just wanted to find him to keep him for herself just as Blue would expect her to.

Fourth: she believed her evil mother to be the culprit and if she was right about this, they had a very huge problem since Cora was one of the most dangerous and nastiest people in the whole Enchanted Forest.

And fifths: Hook wanted Emma's help to take revenge on Rumpelstiltskin, which would be a self murder mission and now he maybe even wanted to involve her in searching for Prince Henry at Cora's as well. She had no doubt this was true, since his men were searching for her all over the place. While she had no problem with Emma searching for the prince, she didn't want her to get even close to Cora. It would be best if that witch would never even hear her name. And she certainly didn't want Emma to be involved in Hook's revenge.

The big question now was, if she should tell Blue about any of this. If she'd do, Blue would find out about her still existing connection to Emma. She would find out that she was still helping her even though she had told her to stop it because it would be pointless and then she might stop her from continuing to help Emma. And if Regina would deny all of this Emma would lose her for nothing.

But on the other hand she could hardly tell Blue about anything without explaining from where she got her information and how she had been able to witness the conversation between Hook and Regina. So if she wanted to tell her something about it, if she wanted to warn Snow White and Charming of Regina possibly working against them with Hook she had to reveal her secret and that would hurt Emma.

Nova frowned. But was this really about Emma or did she just use her as an excuse to break Blue's rules? Was she doing this just for herself or was she really doing it for Emma?

Her head started to ache of her wild running thoughts.

No, she wouldn't tell Blue unless it would be necessary. Maybe it was selfish but she didn't want to lose Emma as a client. She wanted to keep helping her and she perfectly knew that she would need her. And she believed that Emma would know how to honor her efforts one day, not that it was necessary. But it would show that Emma had changed.

The most important thing now was to make sure Emma wouldn't come here. She had to keep her away from this ship and even more importantly from Hook. She had to convince her that the pirate wasn't an option for her and that she would be better off without him.

The door to the captain's quarter opened and a man with a beard, brown eyes and a red hat on his head entered almost worried the room. He seemed a little out of breath, "Captain?"

"Mr. Smee", Hook said slowly and respectfully but his anger was still boiling underneath all that, "why did this take so long?"

"I just arrived on the Jolly Roger, when I heard you wanted to see me, Sir."

Hook sighed, "is there anything new about that woman?"

"No Sir", Smee said nervously. Maybe he was able to look right through Hook's controlled mask and noticed his anger? Or it was just his usual behavior in front of his captain?

Hook clenched his teeth together and turned around to look out of the big window behind him.

"But I'm sure we will find her if we just have enough patience and time, Sir", Smee hurried to say in an attempt to soothe and comfort him.

Nova didn't even need to wait for his reaction. Hook answered as soon as Smee had closed his mouth again and didn't sound as controlled as before anymore, "that's the problem, Smee, we don't have time!"

The first mate raised his eyebrows in surprise, "but what's the matter, Sir?"

Hook didn't answer him, "without her it'll be a lot harder to find him." It appeared he was talking to himself now, "and to get rid of Regina will eat up my time or even worse it will cost my life."

"Captain", Smee asked completely worried now, "so now it's not just the Dark One but the Evil Queen as well? Do you want to get into trouble with every powerful person now?"

Hook turned on his heels and stared him down, "I'd hardly call Rumpelstiltskin a person and it's not up to you to decide who I will fight and who not."

Smee stepped back and looked away guiltily, "I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't want to do that. I'm just worried -"

The words "for you" hang empty in the air even though he hadn't said them.

Hook calmed down a little and sighed, "we have twenty-four hours left. Tell the men to return before sunrise and we need some to replenish our provisions before we set sail."

"What about the woman? If we haven't been able to find her during the past two days why should we succeed now all of a sudden?"

"Nothing", Hook said almost disappointed, "if we won't find her we'll just have to live with it. But there is still hope since we have found her today, remember?"

"You mean, you found her, Sir."

"Go now", Hook sighed and turned to look out of the windows again.

"Aye, Sir", Smee said and saluted to show his respect even though Hook didn't see it before he left the room.

Nova followed him through the door. She had heard and seen enough. She needed to get back to Emma to prevent her from coming any closer to this ship then she already was. Her idea of hiding close to the Jolly Roger since nobody would expect her to do so had been better than Nova had thought it to be. Now all she had to do was to keep her as far away as possible for at least twenty-four hours. If she'd succeed Emma would be safe from Hook and she'd be able to search for evidence for what she'd just found out before she'd tell anybody. And if Emma wasn't around anymore, Blue would hardly be able to draw a connection between her and her information. It would be perfect.

But as usual, it didn't work out.


	5. Deal

5. Deal

It was quite difficult for her to make her way through the dense undergrowth without being noticed by the young pirate she had been following all day. Strangely Nova had disappeared somewhere along the way to the Jolly Roger. The ship was nice but small. It had two masts and their sails were rolled up. The bug of the ship was colored in stripes of blue, brown and red. The lower half of the bug was all white. There was neither crows nest nor a pirate flag. It was no wonder she hadn't noticed them. She might even not have noticed them if they would have been anchoring in the harbor. The Jolly Roger was looking like a normal ship. It could have been a merchants or a traveler's one, too. Therefore, Hook had to put a lot of emphasis on secrecy. At least he didn't want to catch too much attention.

Emma watched the young man running up the plank that lead from the rotten wharf to the deck of the Jolly Roger and sighed. Now she would have to wait and watch the ship if she didn't want to run into unexpected trouble. She didn't want to have to fight with his pirates again. She needed to get to him and nothing else. She wanted his head.

The problem was even if she would be able to sneak on board unnoticed it would be impossible to leave with an unconscious Hook especially since she didn't believe it to be possible to simply knock him out without drawing any attention of his crew. He had been a pirate for a very long time if she wasn't mistaken and Nova had had a point when she said that he wasn't the captain for nothing. There had to be a reason for all that and this reason had to be that he was perfectly able to take care of himself.

However, what should she do with him when she would get close to him?

She remembered the reason he wanted to catch her at all. He had tried to make a deal with her and she hadn't listened to him. Nova's voice was echoing in her ears saying something about concentrating on priorities. She had told her that she shouldn't catch an ordinary pirate of his crew if she wanted to catch Hook himself. Maybe it was the same with Blackbeard? She hadn't gotten close to him ever since Graham had died except for today and that had been more of an accident than thanks to her abilities. Maybe she needed a pirate to catch a pirate? However, if it was about Blackbeard an ordinary pirate wouldn't be enough, would it? A captain on the other hand…

Yes. Maybe finally it was time to listen to him and to make a deal in order to get what she wanted.

Emma rushed through the undergrowth to get as close to the ship as possible, before she hide behind a bush that was growing close to the wharf. There were barely any trees to hide her, but she would take the risk to be discovered now because even though she had decided to listen to him she couldn't know if she would agree to the deal he had to offer to her. If she wouldn't agree to it she would just try to earn the money on his head.

Her hiding place wasn't a good choice, she knew that. A simple bush wasn't much of a disguise but her experience told her that you hardly recognized what you were looking for if it was right in front of you, So she was counting on the pirates' distraction. Her green cloak and its hood she had pulled far into her face again would do the rest.

The young pirate came rushing back and disappeared in the forest again. Maybe he had gotten orders from his captain and had to search for his mates? She didn't care. All she needed to know was how many pirates were left on deck and if they were taking their watches in a special rhythm.

Emma waited and waited until maybe a whole hour had passed without seeing anyone on deck. It was like there was nobody there, which was quite strange since pirates usually left their ships only guarded. To be honest, she had never seen any ships unguarded no matter if they belonged to pirates or not.

She took one last look at the forest to make sure that no one approached her and left her hiding behind the bush. Sneaking on board was easier than she had expected it to be. It was a little too easy which made her feel awkward and caused her to be even more careful. She looked around on deck, hiding behind everything she could find weather it was a mast, boxes that had to be taken under deck or thrown away or even the stairs that lead to the upper deck at the back of the ship. There was nobody there.

What was going on here? Was Hook as proud of himself that he believed guards weren't necessary for his ship? Was he as full of himself that he believed nobody would dare to try to steal it or even sneak onto it? If this was the case then he was quite deluded especially since she had just proofed him wrong.

Emma waited for another moment hiding beside the stairs behind a box before she stood up to approach the hatch that lead under deck and was embedded in the floor just as she finally heard someone talking.

"He was strange", a familiar voice asked as two men entered the deck, "what does that mean?"

"I-I think he is upset about something", the young pirate behind Smee who she recognized at his red hat said in a nervous voice. He really was quite young.

They ran up to the hatch.

"I can perfectly imagine what this something is", Smee said darkly, "we still haven't found that bloody woman."

They vanished through the hatch and Emma took one last glance to make sure there wouldn't be someone else suddenly showing up here, before she followed them under deck silently. They would lead her directly to the captain without even noticing it. It would be perfect and she wouldn't even need to search the whole ship for him anymore.

When she had left, the stairs behind she heard a yell that sounded suspiciously like the captain himself, "Smee."

The pirate started to run to a door that wasn't as far away since the ship wasn't that big, but when he finally reached it, he was already out of breath. He opened the door without hesitating and vanished inside the room behind it leaving the young pirate behind and at her mercy.

It was easy to knock him out. He didn't even notice her until she tipped on his shoulder so he would turn around to her. As soon as he was knocked out, she stepped past him and pulled her sword to wait for Smee.

She didn't need to long for a long moment when he already rushed back again. He didn't notice her standing in the shadow of the staircase. He had only eyes for his mate laying unconscious on the ground as he already ran into her and stopped in front of her sword.

"Don't say anything", Emma whispered and forced him to step back to the door slowly since he couldn't see where he was going while starring at her, "bring me to Hook. Oh, and don't do something stupid like fighting back or trying to warn him, pirate, or I'll need to end your life and you know I can do that."

She slowly followed him to the wooded door and told him to turn around to it.

"Oh no!"

Emma froze and told him to stop so she could search for the source of the familiar voice at her right ear. Nova had to be invisible. What was she doing here? How and when had she gotten here? She can't have come on board with her or she would have told her to stop all the time.

"Don't do this", Nova whispered so Smee couldn't hear her, "you can still escape if you knock him out and leave the way you sneaked in here, Emma."

Emma didn't want to listen to her. She had had plenty of time to think this through and she had made a decision to which she would stay true. There was no way back anymore, not for her. No matter what the fairy would tell her she wouldn't give up now. She would hear what he had to offer to her and then she would make her decision one way or the other.

"What would you do before you'd enter that room without your Captain's order? What do you always do in that case", Emma asked in a whisper, "talk as silent as only I can hear you or it'll be your last words."

"Wh-what do you w-want to do", Smee asked braver than she had expected him to be especially since he had disappeared before she could beat him up as well that night he had attacked her with the rest of the crew.

"I won't kill him if it's that what you want to know", Emma answered hoping he'd be more cooperating. She didn't want to kill him and she didn't want to knock him out because she might need him to keep Hook at bay, "tell me."

"I-I knock at the door."

"More often than once?"

"Aye."

Lie.

"And then?"

"I enter."

"You don't wait for his answer?"

"No."

Emma grinned, "knock a single time and wait for him to invite you in."

Smee froze. It was obvious she had been right about his lies. It was satisfying to know that. She pushed the tip of his sword in his back a little harder to force him to follow her orders and added a warning, "and don't forget: you can't help him, if you're dead because didn't do what I want. So be a good boy and do as I say."

Smee slowly and mechanically raised his hand and knocked at the door just as she had told him to. While they waited for Hook's answer Nova kept talking to her going her nerves through telling her to run away as long as this door wouldn't be opened.

Emma ignored her and wondered how it was even possible that Smee didn't notice any of this or at least it seemed so. Was she insane now? Or was this just a magical trick of the fairy? Emma bit it was the last option. To imagine becoming insane was far more frightening than the possibility of a fairy using magic on her especially since nothing she said sounded even slightly like anything she would think.

Smee opened the door. She hadn't even noticed Hook's answer since she had been too lost in her thoughts about Nova. The fairy would help to kill her if this would continue. What an ironical fact since she was trying so hard to save her.

"What's wrong", Hook asked annoyed and upset before Smee had even entered the room. He was big enough to cover her up at least a bit, so Hook hadn't noticed her yet.

"I thought I made myself clear, Smee. Why aren't you following my orders?"

Emma looked over the pirate's shoulder and noticed that Hook wasn't even looking at them. He was standing in front of the windows his arms crossed in front of his chest looking outside while his body created a huge shadow on the floor behind him.

Emma closed the door behind her back when she was inside the room. She was lucky he wasn't looking at them or it would have been a lot more difficult.

Before he could turn around probably sensing something since Smee wasn't answering believing in her warning, she used the reflex point at his neck to knock him out. Usually she preferred the spot at the shoulder to force them down and knock them out but it would have taken too long and maybe her beat wouldn't be strong and fast enough. Through that point she could be certain he would be knocked out right away. The problem was it wasn't always so easy to find that point at someone's neck, which was the reason she couldn't use it all the time in a fight. Reflex points were great but they were nothing useful in an open fight.

Smee sank to the ground just when Hook turned around to stare at her. It was more than obvious he was not just surprised but impressed. Good. This was the basis, on which she wanted to negotiate with him.

His expression changed almost within an eye blink and he grinned. She couldn't really understand why but he seemed relieved what definitely wasn't what she had wanted him to feel at all.

"I'm impressed", he greeted her before his eyes went down to his first mate.

"I know."

He frowned when he looked up to her again, "you didn't kill him, Love, did you? You know I still need him."

Emma didn't answer him but kicked Smee's leg. He moaned like something was hurting him but he didn't come back to his senses yet.

Hook's smile vanished and he eyed her up for moment before he said, "quite impressive that you made it here without anybody noticing anything."

"Impressive? I'd call it insane", Nova grumbled angrily into her right ear. As long as she stayed invisible, it was easier for Emma to ignore her.

"Why are you here", Hook asked after a moment of silence. He made sure she could see his hands, so he really was worried for his mate to her feet.

At least he couldn't possibly be worried for himself since he was standing too far away from her a desk parting them almost in the middle of the distance between them.

"Weren't you searching for me? I thought I'd skip the trouble of running away the whole time and I didn't want to leave the town yet."

"How did you avoid my men", he asked curiously and watched her carefully. It felt like he wasn't just studying her eyes but seeing right through them so he was able to see her underneath all that, the essence of her personality, her soul. She hated it. It made her feel vulnerable like a pet in a cage.

"Not my fault, you're pirates are that ignorant."

"Are they? Or are you just way too clever?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "there is no need to try to bewitch me anymore. I'm already here."

"Aye", he said slowly and nodded in the direction of her sword, which she was pointing at Smee, "but you still have this sword in your hand, Love."

"And there is nothing you can say or do to convince me to put it away again. So tell me, what do you want from me?"

Hook grinned, "well-"

Emma cut him off, "get to the point or I'll be gone without hearing you out." She wouldn't be fooled again. She wouldn't give him the chance to distract her long enough so his men could come back to the Jolly Roger and destroy her hopes of leaving again.

His smile grew bigger and this time it even reached his eyes. He looked like a different person like that. Somehow, she liked the other version of his this smile better.

"Fine", he said and gave it a thought just as if he had to decide where to start first. Was it another trick to make time? Not with her.

"Hook", she said in an almost commanding voice, "ten words or less."

His smile vanished as he held up his right hand to count his words while talking, what could have been charming, if it wouldn't have been him she was talking with, "I need you to find someone for me urgently, please."

Emma raised an eyebrow when he added the "please" just to fill in the tenth word.

"Who?"

"An old… friend."

Lie. Emma didn't even need Nova to tell her so, who snorted angrily into her right ear.

"That's all? The great Captain Hook can't find his own enemy?"

That was more than ridiculous. If there was one person in the world who had to be able to find someone or something it had to be a pirate.

Hook raised an eyebrow and his mood dropped. Therefore, he understood her sub message. Good. Maybe he'd be more serious now.

"It's not that easy", he stated calmly but he couldn't fool her. He was definitely offended.

"Why?"

"What is this", he said to avoid answering her, "aren't you Question-girl?"

"I thought you wanted to make a deal with me? I at least need to know its parameters", she stated, "don't you think?"

"Good, Emma. Don't let him fool you", Nova rooted for her.

"Because someone is blocking every track I try to follow."

Emma frowned, "who?"

Hook shrugged, "I don't know for sure. There are several possibilities."

Emma stared at him for a long time. She wasn't certain this was the truth or not. Usually it was easy to detach for her, so this was a completely new experience for her. He was good, but she had already known that from their last meeting.

"What is your guess?"

Hook chuckled, "you'll have to understand that I can't tell you about my very dangerous enemies if you're not working for me."

Emma raised an eyebrow. If he believed she would run around following his orders like the rest of his crew then he was mistaken anyway.

"So you won't tell me who I shall search for either?"

"Aye."

"And what do you want from your", she paused before she pronounced the next word ironically, "friend."

Even though he tried to stay calm and controlled his anger and furiousness was almost shining through every pore of his body, "I want to kill him."

Emma piped, "if this is what you do to your friends then I don't want to find out what you do to your enemies."

Hook grinned, "are you done now?"

"Ask him why Regina was here", Nova prompted out of nowhere.

Emma frowned. Who? And why should she ask that?

The fairy seemed to guess her thoughts, "ask him what the Evil Queen wanted from him."

Curious herself now she did her the favor, "what was the Evil Queen doing here?"

It appeared that this was the question he had hoped she wouldn't ask. His jaw clenched and there was something bitter around his mouth.

"She…", he stopped again. He couldn't come up with a lie and he seemed quite frustrated about it. It was something to see.

"It's not important."

"We're talking about the Evil Queen. Of course it's important, Hook", she insisted to get her answer.

"Scared", he asked starring at her as if he wanted to estimate her.

"Carefully", she corrected him and grinned.

"She offered me a job", he sighed.

Truth.

"But I refused."

"Seriously? I don't even need to make an effort to detach that as a lie. You know that, don't you", she asked a little annoyed, "you don't refuse the Evil Queen's orders without getting into trouble and you're most obviously fine."

"It wasn't an order. It was job."

"That's lame, Hook, and you know that. She doesn't offer she always demands."

"How do you know so much about her", Hook asked suspicious and stepped closer to the desk. He was afraid she would just leave again and it was obvious he didn't intent to give her the chance to do it. She had noticed the shift in the atmosphere between them as well. He was trying to distract her again.

"Unimportant. Why was she here", she asked again and watched him carefully.

"Don't you think this is a little unfair? You want to -"

"What", she cut him off.

Hook sighed, "she wanted me to find someone for her."

"Isn't that ironic?"

He glared at her, "I said I couldn't find the person I want to find, not that I couldn't find anyone else."

"And who?"

Hook shook his head.

"You have a problem with that word, haven't you?"

He grinned.

"Emma, the pirate is moving his right hand", Nova warned her.

She didn't even look down on Smee when she bored the tip of her sword right between his shoulder blades, "don't."

The pirate froze and Hook's grin vanished. Therefore, this had been what he had tried to cover up through talking with her.

"Who are you supposed to find", Emma repeated.

"Don't you think we should talk about our deal instead", he said annoyed now and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"He is right", Nova stated, "you need to hurry. The pirates might come back soon and Blake out there might wake up again any moment. I just wanted you to understand that he is lying to you."

Emma frowned. There had been no need to show her. She perfectly knew it herself.

"So I just need to find this", she specifically pronounced the word again, "friend of yours and that's all?"

"Be careful, Emma. He is searching for the Dark One."

Emma froze and stared at him. Was that man insane? This would be a self-murder mission and nothing else.

"Yes", he said and she had the feeling he was looking at her as she was about to fall into his trap.

"Will I risk my life through that", she asked just to test him again.

"Why do you ask", Hook asked and narrowed his eyes in suspicion because he had noticed something was different about her.

"I deserve to know, don't you think?"

"No, you'll not."

Lie.

They both perfectly knew that he was lying and he was perfectly aware of the fact that she knew about it as well. She raised an eyebrow and made certain Smee wasn't getting away from her keeping his hands where she could perfectly see them.

"What is your offer?"

Hook let out a breath, "I'll help you to kill Blackbeard."

Emma stared at him. So he still believed she wanted to kill him? Well, she couldn't blame him for that. Who would have ever thought that she just wanted to get information from him? And after all she didn't know if she would kill him if he'd tell her that he had killed Graham himself.

"I just want to catch him."

"Which is even harder", he sighed.

"I don't care."

Hook leaned forward and looked at her as if he was studying her, "are you sure you don't want to kill him?"

"I'm a bounty hunter, Hook, not a murderer. I need his information. Dead people do not talk. So I need him alive", Emma stated just like she was telling a kid that one plus one was two, "and I don't want to waste anymore time."

Hook leaned back and studied her for a long moment just as if he was trying to discover if she was telling the truth before he finally said, "okay. I'll help you to catch him, if you help me."

"There is more", Emma said almost softly. She had been thinking about this for almost an hour and she had made some more additions to the parameters of their deal, "I'm not part of your crew. You can't command me around like your sailors. And you need to help me to get the information not just Blackbeard."

"Difficult, but fine."

"I come and go as I please", she stated, "so don't expect me to tell you where I'm going or what I'm doing."

"As long as it's not destroying our plans and you're here before we set sail, fine."

"And no the hard one for the pirate who likes to fool everyone."

He chuckled but kept listening to her.

"No lies or secrets if it's got to do with our deal in any kind of way which includes information about how we'll achieve our goals. And don't even try to lie."

"There might be things I can't tell you, Love", he said slowly.

"For example?"

"Information about the Evil Queen?"

"This is why I only included things that influence our deal."

"Fine", he agreed slowly and Emma already sensed another secret. There was something important she was missing out about the thing with the Queen. Nova wasn't of help either. She wasn't even sure the fairy was still there.

"I have conditions, too", Hook continued, "you must not try to kill or to deliver me to earn the money on my head."

"Fine, as long as you're doing the same."

Hook frowned, "you've a bounty?"

"What else", Emma asked ignoring his question.

He was still frowning when he continued, "you must not harm my men."

"Did you tell them either? Because I won't hold back if they attack me."

"I'll tell them", he stated, "I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't try to earn their bounties."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"So", he asked and came closer to her holding out his hand so she could be sure he wouldn't attack her and to seal their deal, "deal?"

"That's all?"

"Yes", he said amused.

Emma stared into his eyes for a long moment before she took his hand and sealed it. They stared at each other for a long moment and he didn't let go of her hand even though she whished nothing more but that. There was something intense in the way he was focusing on her that made her feel uneasy. She pulled her hand back but didn't avoid his eyes.

Hook finally broke their eye contact and looked down on Smee who was still lying on his stomach. He had put his face to the right so he could breath easier stretched his arms to show her that he wasn't getting anywhere close to a weapon. His captain grinned and raised an eyebrow when he looked at her again.

Emma rolled her eyes and pulled back her sword so the pirate could get back to his feet.

"Thanks."

"So what now?"

"Now we have to find a boy for the Evil Queen."

Emma frowned and followed him back to his desk, "what? She was confused and it took her a moment to understand that this had been what she had been missing out in their deal. He had tricked her anyway.

And he enjoyed it, "that's what we have to do now."

"I thought we just agreed you wouldn't hide anything."

"I didn't. It's not connected to our deal", he pointed out while Smee touched the spot at his neck she had used to knock him out before.

"Oh, but searching for someone else for the Evil Queen first and putting everything else behind has got pretty much to do with our deal", she insisted.

Hook grinned like a smart fox, "yeah, maybe. But I didn't break our deal."

"No?"

"No. We hadn't agreed on our deal when I could have told you, so I didn't hide anything from you."

Emma snorted angrily, "who is that kid?"

Hook spread a map across his desk and glanced at Smee, "this must not leave this room, Smee. That is an order."

"Aye, Sir", the pirate said as he approached them as well keeping an eye on Emma the whole time.

She ignored them and waited for him to tell her everything impatient since he obviously expected her to help him in this matter. She wasn't sure she wanted to do it. The Evil Queen didn't have her name for nothing and there couldn't be anything Emma would willingly do for her.

"His name is Henry."

Emma frowned. She remembered something that was connected to that name. She felt like she had heard it before, "as in Prince Henry aka the son of Snow White and Charming?"

Hook didn't say anything but simply looked into her eyes. That was proof enough for her theory, "do you really believe I'd help a witch to take her vengeance?"

"It's not about vengeance."

"No? It's about Snow White's son and she hated her enough to cast a curse upon the entire Enchanted Forest."

"But she cares for the boy", Hook insisted.

"How do you know that", she asked skeptically and curious of why he was that certain about it. Everyone knew the story of Snow White and the Evil Queen. Everyone knew about what they had done to defeat each other and there were more stories about them out in the Enchanted Forest than anything else.

"I know her long enough to detach that", Hook stated and looked straight into her eyes, "believe me."

It was a simple request and still she questioned if she could really do it despite the deal they had just made. She didn't know anything about Hook and he had just tricked her into something she didn't really want to do at all. However, his eyes were proving him right. He was telling the truth so he at least believed this wasn't about revenge himself.

Smee who had been following their conversation like a game of tennis frowned, "and how are we supposed to find him?"

Hook looked at the pirate as if he had completely forgotten that he was still with them and changed his mind, "later. For now we should show our new…partner where she is living from now on."

Emma frowned. This was unexpected. He had even spread a map across the desk to show her something and now he all of a sudden changed his mind? Didn't he know where to search yet or was it about Smee being with them as he was actually part of their strange team?

"Come on", Hook said and held out his hand to place it in her back. When he noticed her expression, he pulled it back again and approached the door, "Mr. Smee. Go find the crew and make sure we have enough provisions for the next six weeks."

Smee rushed past them and disappeared in the darkness of the ship. It had gotten darker so maybe it was already around four o'clock.

Hook lead her through the whole ship showing her several cabins and the way below them where they kept their provisions until they approached a door right behind the stairs that lead on deck.

"What is in there", she asked and pointed at the door.

"That's the galley. It's Blake's realm, if you want to call it like that."

"Who is Blake?"

Hook opened the door and allowed her to look inside without paying any attention to the room himself, "I hired him just lately. He's good for nothing but he's a great cook."

"What do you mean with good for nothing", Emma asked and frowned, as she saw what the galley was looking like.

"He is quite inexperienced and I sometimes believe he is still too young for this", Hook shrugged, "but I can't just send him away somehow. His cooking is too good."

Emma looked at him in surprise for a long moment before she asked, "does inexperienced mean he doesn't know about infections?"

Hook frowned, "I don't know."

"Say did you guys ever have anything like an epidemic on this ship?"

"Why?"

Emma pointed at the galley. In the small room were hanging dirty pans and pots, spoons, forks and knifes were lying around on the messy desk in the middle and there was food that need to be preserved. Bread was stuck between the dirty pans and some of it even was growing molds. All in all it seemed like that room hadn't seen any water in eons.

Hook's mood changed from surprised over shocked to furious.

"Mr. Blake", he yelled just like he had shouted for Smee earlier and waited for an answer.

Emma frowned. When she had gotten on board earlier, there hadn't been anyone there at all. Why would he expect this Blake to be here then? Didn't he know that they were all alone now that Smee was gone?

A movement behind her caught her attention and she suddenly remembered the young pirate she had knocked out earlier. She had totally forgotten about him. And he turned out to be Mr. Blake.

He stumbled around the staircase and stared at them trying to salute to his captain in a proper way but his vision was still too blurred, as it seemed.

"Aye, Sir", he stuttered and looked like he was feeling sick. Emma couldn't blame him for that. Seeing that mess of a galley had done the same to her and she hadn't received a hit on her head that had knocked her out before.

"Mr. Blake", Hook said confused of what his sailor was looking like for a moment so he almost totally forgot what he wanted to say at all, "what's wrong with you?"

Emma looked up to the ceiling as if it was very interesting as she felt Hook's gaze wandering up to her.

"Didn't we agree on not hurting my men", he growled, "I can hardly imagine that he has attacked you."

Emma grinned. It was funny but now she could pay him back, "that was after I knocked him out."

They stared at each other not willing to give up and let the other one win until Blake asked for their attention again, "Sir, how can I help you?"

Hook broke their eye contact reluctantly and started to scold his pirate.

Emma didn't pay any more attention. He had shown her the entire ship. There were ten small cabins to both sides of it with bunk beds at the walls and while some of those rooms where able to take in four men, there were still some that could only take two since a canon was standing where the other beds would have been. But even though there were so many beds it was impossible that his whole crew was able to find accommodation at night even if some men had to stay awake for night shifts. She had seen hammocks in the bug of the ship so some were sleeping there as well.

However, where on earth was she supposed to stay? Even if there had been a crow's nest she wouldn't have been able to stay there since the nights on sea would have been too cold. But there was nothing like that so basically she had no place to sleep at.

Hook noticed her frown but resisted to ask what it was about, "do you have anything to deal with in the town?"

She looked at him in surprise, "why?"

"Well, I was planning to leave this place in two days. I would set sails earlier but after my men hadn't had the opportunity to celebrate and to repel their horns we'll have to stay longer."

Blake had rushed into the galley and started to work his way through the mess. Pans and pots were making noise as they stood in front of the door and ignored him.

"Do you really believe they'll be fine with me on board", Emma asked skeptically and watched him carefully.

"They won't have another choice", Hook smiled, "I am their captain and they have to follow my orders. Right, Mr. Blake?"

"Aye Sir", Blake answered even though Emma was certain the young and foolish man hadn't even heard a single word of their conversation.


	6. The new on board

6. The new on board

Emma felt the sand between her fingers and under her legs as she leaned back to enjoy the sun. She was all alone, the sun was playing around on the water surface of the ocean and the only sound anywhere near, was the wind playing around with the dune grass and the reed that grew all around the small bay she was spending her time at now.

The past day had passed in an eye blink, as it seemed. Of course, she had refused to stay on the Jolly Roger as long as they would not leave this town and she would not have another choice but to do it. She had wanted to enjoy her freedom without limits as if she would have to explore them on board of their ship as soon as they would leave from now on.

After talking with Hook she had left the Jolly Roger even before his men had come back, in an effort to give them time to accept, that she would be part of their team now. She had found herself a place to stay in a stable near a tavern some of his men had visited that night. She had heard them talk about her and that they were not fine with her joining them at all. Some had even considered ignoring Hook's orders about not attacking her, which would be equal to mutiny, but she did not believe those ideas to be serious at all. It had just been their way to vent their anger nothing more.

Emma stood up and trudged through the mud flap back to solid ground. It was low tide and when she had come here before, she had found herself a place that reached far enough into the ocean, could only be reached through the mud flap of the low tide and stayed dry. It had been a great time here and she had been able to relax, but now it was time to finally get back to the Jolly Roger to do what she had agreed to do and team up with the captain and his crew.

Nova hadn't shown up anymore ever since she had decided to team up with Hook. She had thought about her for several times ever since and she had come to the conclusion that her new friend might have decided to disappear forever for real now. After all she had pushed down every of her attempts to help her without any feeling of guilt. Maybe the fairy had just gotten sick of her. Or even more possible than that, she had given up on her. She couldn't blame her for that.

Emma reached solid ground and strolled back to the town. She had to buy a new knife before she'd join Hook's crew and she had just some hours left before she'd have to be on board of the Jolly Roger. Before everything would be different from what it had always been like.

The job as bounty hunter had been the constant in her live where she could always relay on. No matter what had happened to her and no matter how depressed she had been about her result less attempts to find Blackbeard and not finding the answers she needed desperately to make peace with Graham's death, she had always been able to find a way to survive. There had always been someone, she could catch to earn a bounty.

But now she would be stuck on board of the Jolly Roger, surrounded by men who hated her and didn't want her around. Men who actually would prefer to beat her and drown her in the sea where nobody would ever find her body.

Yesterday on the other hand had been nothing but ordinary, in her terms of what was ordinary.

She could remember everything just like it had happened just this morning.

* * *

It was early in the morning. The sun was just rising above the treetops as she came back to the Jolly Roger. To her surprise, the men were already up even though they had spent the past night in a tavern near the stable she had chosen for the night. She knew it, because when she had entered it, she had heard them talking about her.

This morning they filled the deck of the Jolly Roger like a swarm of busy bees buzzing around their hive. They were repairing parts of the Jolly Roger that had been damaged or were almost damaged so they wouldn't have to do it on sea, when they would finally break. They scrubbed the planks on deck until they almost sparkled in the tired morning sun, just as if they intended to win a prize for their ship's beauty or something like that. Others carried the barrels and boxes down the plank to the rotting wharf, she had noticed one day ago, when she had sneaked on board, before they load them on a carriage, that they had lend somewhere in the town before. She could imagine why they were doing that. For sure, they wanted to have them refilled for their journey.

Emma watched them for a while and noticed a system in their way of working. No matter what they were doing, they never got in each other's way. The men taking care of the planks never forced those to carry the empty barrels to stop or to stumble, just like the men repairing the ship never had to stop, even though some men were throwing boxes or barrels down for others to catch, instead of carrying them down the plank to the wharf.

But no matter how long she watched the ship and those men, she couldn't find Hook in this organized mess, so she had to enter the Jolly Roger on her own, even though she was quite nervous about it. It wasn't about facing those men, she had beat up a few days ago, since she perfectly knew she could handle them, if it would be necessary, but more about this completely new situation. Well, there were more men than in that night back then and it was their territory, so in the end the reason for her nervousness maybe indeed was something like that. She felt like she was entering a cave of a hungry wolf pack.

Despite all that she threw back her hood and left the bushes behind she had used as a hiding place again, before she walked up to the ship, like it was the most natural thing to do for her. Some of the men noticed her, but most of them were too stuck in their tasks to notice her at all. She ignored all of them and since she had watched them before, she didn't even need to avoid them, but simply didn't get in their way as if she was coming on deck like this everyday.

When she thought she could just vanish through the hatch down to Hook, if he was there at all, the huge and bear-like pirate stepped in her way, his arms crossed in front of his chest and glared down on her, since he was taller than her. Just like when they had first met, his brown hair were bound back, but this time she could even notice the huge tattoo on his left biceps that showed an anchor twined around by an anchor chain. It looked threatening on the big muscle on his upper arm that was tense through his posture.

"Where do you think you're going", he almost growled and the men around them stopped working as if they had heard a whistle that announced a boxing match.

She couldn't stop herself even though she knew another reaction might be better than this. Before she could even think of stopping herself, the words were out and she couldn't take them back anymore, because he perfectly heard them just like everyone else around them.

"I'm looking for a fool who can be beaten like girl", she said in a voice sweet as sugar. Even though she knew she was just provoking him with this, she had to admit that she was enjoying this.

Emma had never been good at apologizing or trying to be the way someone would like it, so she didn't try to please him now either. She could understand that they were angry with her for beating them and she could see their reasons behind it. But all this didn't matter because their way of taking vengeance on her for their partner hadn't been fair at all and she was quite upset about it. It hadn't just been unfair, it had been aggressive, violent and quite brutal. She had been more than lucky that she had made it back then. Despite that, his arrogant behavior now was just an addition to her anger with them.

His expression turned into a furious stare as the meaning of her words seeped into his mind and she could almost hear how he clenched his teeth.

"What does that mean", he growled dangerously and if his glance had been able to kill, she would had been fried like a fish on a stick the moment he looked at her.

"That means you hit like girl", she said and shrugged innocently. Now that the kid already had fallen into the well, she didn't need to take consideration anymore.

Base freed his arms and stepped up to her like he wanted to beat her, but she didn't recoil. Instead, she stayed where she was and looked at him as if she wasn't impressed at all.

"Base", a familiar voice said from behind him in a commanding tune and stopped him, just when he was about to grab her to throw her over board, as she assumed. The colossus of a man stepped back again, but didn't stop to try to stare her down. She didn't care and she let him now that through the way she was looking back at him.

Hook walked up to her. He had just entered the deck through the hatch she had approached before and looked quite angry as he met her eyes. She didn't care since she was just as angry with him. They had a deal, so there shouldn't be anyone stopping her on anything on this ship. Well, maybe it was asked too much, she knew that, especially after everything that had happened between her and most of his men, but she had expected it to be resolved with his orders. What were his orders good for, if his men were doing what they wanted to in the end anyway?

"Go back to work", Hook ordered and Base followed.

When he was gone, he continued to talk with her by scolding her, "remember our deal?"

"Of which part exactly are you talking", she pretended to be dumb, knowing it would annoy him. After all, he seemed to be just as nervous about all this as she was. It was funny to see but definitely nothing his men should notice.

He walked past her to the rear of the Jolly Roger, "the part where you agreed not to attack my men."

Emma raised an eyebrow and followed him. She was acting amused, but her voice was giving away her anger, "strange. I don't remember that part. But I recall the part where you agreed to keep your men out of my neck so I wouldn't need to defend myself."

Hook finally looked at her and sighed deeply, "you can't blame them for hating you. After all you've done everything to deserve that."

"For protecting myself when fifteen men suddenly surround me to beat me up and kill me", she asked sarcastically, "you're right. I deserved it."

"Okay, it won't work like this", he said slowly and silently, "I think there is only one way to bring you together."

Emma frowned, "and what do you expect that way to be?"

"You'll see", Hook said and grinned, "all I say is: there'll be a lot of rum, games, stories and -"

"Let me guess", she disturbed him, "wenches?"

"You know that", he asked in surprise, but she could see it was just a bad joke, "didn't expect a pure lass to know about things like that."

"Pure", she asked acting confused, so she wouldn't need to take him seriously about this, "you must be talking of someone I don't know."

"So that really was you in that tavern", he said more to himself than to her but she perfectly understood what he was referring to. He was talking of the night she had seen him flirting with that wench without being invested at all.

"How long will it take until we leave", Emma asked to change the subject. She didn't want to talk about that now. She could perfectly imagine what he would say about it. He would insult something as if she had stalked him down because he was that handsome. Emma turned around to watch the men again. They were still doing the same things she had watched them do from the forest, but from this perspective, they didn't look like bees anymore. If she wasn't mistaken they had just been sticking their heads together a second before.

As far as she could see it, they weren't even fine with her joining them a bit. It was more like they were forced to accept her, but she hadn't expected anything else.

"Tomorrow at sunset", he answered uninterested before he came to speak about what really was of his concern now, "my men need some time at the tavern tonight."

"I thought they already had that last night?"

"Well, actually I believe you guys could need some time together to bond."

Emma opened her mouth to protest. She didn't want to spent time with his men at a tavern where they would get drunk and she would have to watch them getting in touch with the prostitutes there. But he didn't let her talk.

He walked up to her and looked deep into her eyes seriously, when he said in a silent voice, "look, before we leave I have to make sure that my crew works together as a team. That means they have to get along with you. And I believe that they would like you better, if they knew you better."

Emma looked at him for long moment, "that won't work."

He sighed and stepped back again, "at least we can try it. And by the way; you're underestimating yourself, Love."

Even though she was quite curious about what he meant with that, she didn't ask. She didn't want to give him the pleasure to achieve what he had intended to by saying something like that. Moreover, she didn't want to reveal that she was quite bad at accepting a compliment.

* * *

She had no idea why on earth she had agreed to this. She didn't even believe it would work and still she had come to join them. Maybe because she actually believed in what Hook had told her about "working as a team"?

The moment she entered the tavern their moods dropped. Instead of celebrating and flirting as if they were usually doing it in a tavern, they stopped talking and laughing for several minutes, before they stuck their heads together or drank their drinks in silence.

Emma walked up to the bar and ordered a jug of rum. It was good she was wearing her hood or the bartender wouldn't even have sold her one, since she was a woman. But even though he hadn't noticed that she was a woman, he had obviously noticed that she was the reason the mood of most of his guests had dropped, "oh man, what did you do to them?"

"That's none of your business", she said knowing that it wouldn't be a good idea to spoil the truth in a tavern if she really wanted to get along with them.

He looked at her in surprise, "have never seen you here with them. Are you a new member of their crew?"

Emma didn't answer but even if she had wanted to, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to do it, since the moment she reached for her jug an arm was placed between her and her rum. It was a woman's arm. This just mustn't be true.

"Hello sweetie", the wench said in a sluggish and flirty voice.

Emma stared at her for a moment, before her eyes wandered to a table where some of Hook's men were watching them carefully. It was obvious that they had sent the woman to annoy her and now they were waiting for their joke. Some were already laughing.

Emma ignored her and took her jug.

"Wanna have a little fun", she kept flirting, "what do you need that hood for?"

Emma sighed and turned to look at her, so she could see her face, "need anymore answers?"

The woman stared at her with her grey eyes like she couldn't understand it. Her hair was felted and she was missing a tooth. Her brown skirt combined with a white shirt was dirty just like her face. She was very confused to discover that there was a woman hiding under that hood. She definitely had expected a man. Maybe she had even believed her to be disgusting or hurt badly enough, so she needed that hood to cover it up.

Emma waited for her reaction, that came immediately, "I don't understand. Why would they…"

"You mean, why would they send you to me", Emma asked what she couldn't even spell out as it seemed. She leaned into her and whispered in her ear, "because they want to anger me. Isn't it obvious?"

The woman looked at the men who were starring at them in disbelieve and surprise, believing that Emma was flirting with her and a smile appeared on her lips, "fine. I understand. Wanna show them something they won't forget?"

"Hell, no", Emma said and came up with an idea. She looked around until she found who she was looking for, "but you know who would be really happy to spend his time with you?"

The wench looked at her curiously.

"That guy over there", she said and secretly nodded into a direction, so the men wouldn't notice it. Maybe they were thinking she really was making out with her now? She didn't know. But judging their expressions they hadn't expected anything like this to happen.

"The big one with the brown hair", she asked dedicated to her job.

"Yes", Emma said and leant into her once more to whisper something in her ear.

"Seriously", she asked more than surprised and stared at the man.

"If I'm telling you."

"What about the payment", the wench asked and finally revealed an not just serious but also calculating habit.

"You've already been paid", Emma stated and left her alone at the bar. She walked through the tavern ignoring the men looking after her and pulled down her hood. She didn't even need to turn to him, to know that the bartender didn't like what he had to find out now. There might not be any possibility left she could buy another jug in this tavern now that she had revealed to him that she was a woman.

She knew the wench was following her and she could imagine they the pirates were looking at her. For sure, they still believed she was starting something with that woman instead of freaking out and sending her away or blushing and leaving the tavern, as they might have expected her to.

Emma leaned at a column in the middle of the tavern and took a deep sip of her rum, as she watched the wench approaching Base, who, although he was surprised, seemed to be quite happy about her arrival. He seemed even more blessed, as she took a seat on his lap and allowed him a deep look into her neckline.

"What was that about", Hook suddenly asked from the other side of her column and watched them as well, "was that really necessary?"

"Why not", Emma asked without looking at him and relaxed for the first time today.

"Because the rest of my men seem to be annoyed of it", he pointed out but his voice sounded amused.

And indeed the men who had send that woman to her appeared to be quite upset. Their game hadn't worked out the way they had wanted it to and in the end, they even had paid that woman for Base, who had nothing to do with it in the first place. They had wasted their money.

Emma grinned before she took another sip.

She felt his gaze even without looking at him, "what did you tell her?"

"That even though it doesn't seem like it, Base was innocent like a little baby", she grinned even bigger as he burst into laughter.

"Base might be a lot but not that", he chuckled after a while and watched how carefully that stupid woman took care of one of his members of his crew, "but I don't think he'll like to discover what you have said about him."

Emma looked into her jug and emptied it, "I don't care and I hardly believe that he will."

"Want something more", Hook asked as he noticed that her jug was empty now. It would have been easy to ask him to get her some more rum, but she didn't want to relay on him even in this matter. She was able to get some herself even though it wouldn't be easy, since the bartender would refuse to serve her, because she was a woman.

"Not now."

"I could get you some more", he offered politely.

Emma finally met his eyes, "don't you have something better to do than to stick around me?"

"I'm just being polite", he stated, but she didn't believe him, "and I feel challenged."

Emma frowned, "of what?"

He grinned, "of your repellent behavior. You know we hardly know each other."

"Don't worry", she said dryly, "there is no need for that."

Base suddenly glared at her, when the wench leaned back from his right ear. Certainly, she had just told him about her lies and he didn't seem to like it just as if Hook had prophesied it. Smee who had overheard her words chuckled and told the men around him who started to laugh as well. Well, maybe Hook had been right and Base definitely would care.

"You see", Hook said as he noticed it as well, "I guess now you really have an enemy, Love."

"That'll keep me busy on boring days on sea", she said and walked up to the bar again. She pulled a knife as soon as she was close enough to it so the bartender wouldn't see it.

Even before she leaned at it, he shook his head, as if he wanted to tell her that she wouldn't get anything from him anymore unless a man would buy it for her.

Emma placed her jug on the bar, "another one."

"No", the bartender spelled out what he had signed her before, "not for women."

"Last chance", she said silently and threateningly, "you've got rum, you sell it and I've got money to pay you. It's not that much of a deal."

"I won't", he said stubbornly.

"You've done it before."

He leaned closer while the people at the bar stopped talking and stared at them curiously of what would happen now, "not at my tavern."

Emma looked down at his hand, which he had placed on the bar as he had leaned closer to appear more threatening, and rammed her knife between his finger right at the place where they turned into the rest of his hand. He wasn't hurt but he obviously was impressed, since she hadn't even looked at it, as she had done it.

"Are you nuts", he asked silently since he didn't want the people around them to know that he was more than scared of her.

"Rum", she commanded instead of answering him and shoved her money across the surface of the bar.

He growled and clenched his teeth, but he filled another jug and gave it to her.

Suddenly a pirate threw an arm across her shoulders and leaned at her like they were old friends. He was laughing all over his face and he was quite drunk. Emma frowned and looked at him leaving his arm where it was, while she pulled her knife out of the bar to shove it back at her belt.

"You're funny", he mumbled and held out his jug to clink it with hers, "I'm Blackpool."

* * *

It took her a whole hour to get rid of Blackpool who seemed to be one of the younger pirates but definitely was part of the old crew. He told her about his journeys with Hook and the Jolly Roger, but most of those stories she had already heard before. It was the usual gossip pirates tended to spread about themselves. But unlike with Blackbeard's pirates this crew seemed to hold back more than they actually could tell.

Blackbeard was quite lively and as he heard what she had done with the wench, he laughed even louder than he had done it before after she had threatened the bartender, who refilled her jugs even before she could ask for it now.

When Blackpool was finally drunk enough to fall asleep right at the bar, she left him alone again and made her way through the tavern. Most of the pirates seemed to be as drunk as they didn't know their own names anymore, while others were playing games of cards or dice. Still others had weather disappeared with their wenches or were still flirting with them. Base belonged to the first ones and she was happy to have him out of her back.

"So you'll finally talk with me now", Hook asked right from behind her not being as drunk as his men at all.

Emma almost winced out of surprise, before she turned around to look at him again, "about what?"

"About your past."

"There is nothing to know about."

He looked deep into her eyes like they were portals to her feelings, thoughts and memories, "let's start with your name unless you want me to call you "Love" for the rest of our time together."

Emma sighed, "Emma Swan."

He raised an eyebrow, "Swan?"

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, "do you think "Hook" is so much better?"

"That's just a nickname, Love."

She walked up to a free table and sat down. With Blackbeard at the bar, before she hadn't been able to sit at all and her legs were screaming for a break. She didn't need to look at him to know that he was following her like her shadow.

"And what is your real one?"

"Killian Jones", he said and watched her carefully so he wouldn't miss any reaction. When she didn't show any reaction to it at all but stayed unimpressed, he continued, "let's talk about your bounty."

Emma looked up from her jug and raised an eyebrow pretending that she didn't know what he was talking about at all, even though she perfectly remembered their conversation two days earlier. She just hadn't expected him to remember that little detail, especially not after she had simply skipped that matter.

"What bounty", she asked acting dump.

Hook grinned as he looked at her and leaned across the desk between them so she could hear his whisper, "the one you didn't want to talk about yesterday."

"I guess you've misunderstood something there", she said after a moment of pretending to think about it, "I'm a bounty hunter, which means I'm hunting for bounties, not that there is one on my head."

He chuckled and stole her jug to empty it. As he placed the jug back on the desk he grinned, "don't think I'll drop that subject. I'm on to something, I know it."

Emma sighed and looked down on the jug in disappointment, "actually I think you owe me another jug of rum."

"Oh, you're good", he said before he stood up and approached the bar to buy her another jug of rum.

Usually she would have refused him to buy one for her, as she had done it before, but she had wanted to distract him and this was the perfect way to achieve that. Emma leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her chest, watching him talking with the bartender. Whatever it was the man told him, it caused him to burst into laughter.

"So you let him pay for you now", a deep voice of a man said from behind her all of a sudden. She knew that voice. She had heard it just this morning and just like back then Base was upset. But if she wasn't mistaken, he was in a better mood than this morning.

"Still in a bad mood", she teased and watched him taking the place where Hook had been sitting just a moment ago, "didn't that poor woman entertain you?"

His glare darkened, "what are you trying to achieve through fooling around with the captain?"

"I'm surprised you're already back", she avoided to answer him even though or maybe even especially because he was implying something she didn't like at all, "where I have told her to particularly take care of you."

"What are you trying to use him for", Base continued to insinuate that she was tricking Hook into something to earn his money or to get a hold on a treasure of them or anything like that.

Emma took a deep breath and leaned across the desk to look deeply into his eyes, "you're not thinking well of your captain, are you?"

Base stared at her in surprise and if she wasn't mistaken, there was even fear in his eyes. Maybe because he was afraid this theory could make the round amongst the members of his crew until Hook himself would hear it.

"I have the greatest respect for him", he said defending himself, "I am loyal to my captain."

Truth. Not that it was important, but he was honestly with her. There Hook definitely had a loyal pirate.

"But if you really think like that then how can you even consider that I could fool him like that", Emma asked curious with growing respect for that man, who usually only attacked her.

"Even the greatest men can be fooled by insincere, evil and tricky women."

Emma leaned back again. The respect she had felt for him disappeared immediately. Once more, Base was treating her like an enemy of the worst kind and that was hurting her pride no matter how she looked at it. He didn't respect her, so she could respect him neither.

"Base what are you doing", Hook said all of a sudden from beside their desk. Even though she could have seen him coming, she hadn't even noticed him at all. He placed the jug of rum in front of her and took a seat at the head of their desk, "when I left her she was finally in a good mood. Now you talk with her and the work of hours is gone."

Base looked down at his hands while Emma stared at him. She didn't want the crew to believe she was just abusing Hook because she wanted to drain him like a body in the dessert. They had a deal, so there was nothing mendacious about her joining them.

"What is wrong", Hook finally asked when neither of them said anything. He was annoyed not just, because there was something going on between them he didn't know, but because their relationship was worsening. He looked at her waiting for an answer, but she didn't even look at him. She still stared at his sailor.

So he turned to the pirate and ordered, "Base, tell me what's going on between the two of you."

Base hesitated. He was visibly nervous.

As he started to answer, Emma lied, "Base is just angry with me, because I told that wench he was innocent like a baby."

Both men stared at her, Hook because he didn't believe this, but understood that he wouldn't hear the truth of them and Base because he hadn't expected her to do this at all.

Smee yelled for the captain and as he turned around in his seat to talk with his first mate, Base leaned across the desk, "why did you do that? I don't need your help."

"I didn't do this for you", Emma answered in a whisper just like him, "I did this for him. He can be lucky to have someone who is loyal to him with his stupid goals."

Base leaned back, "stupid? Do you even know what happened back then?"

* * *

Emma sighed. This question had been haunting her ever since Base had planted it in her head. She knew Hook was hunting for revenge and she knew that he was aiming Rumpelstiltskin in an attempt to achieve it, but she didn't know for what. There had to be a reason that he would risk his life like that, knowing that his goal might be unreachable and maybe even aware of the fact that it wouldn't help him anything. No matter what had happened to him unless it was about a curse that would break through killing Rumpelstiltskin, as Nova had told her, it wouldn't help him at all.

Emma sighed and paid the merchant for the knife she had chosen to buy, before she headed into the direction of the forest. After her little talk with Base, her mood indeed had dropped as deep as she had simply chosen to leave the men behind despite everything Hook had tried to convince her to stay.

She had found herself a stable to spend the night. Always sleeping in a stable wasn't that great but it was still better than to stay outside anywhere. The straw was keeping her warm at night and it was much more comfortably than the hard forest ground.

Emma reached the Jolly Roger where the men were already busy again. Lunchtime was just over and they would leave in around four hours, but she couldn't see anyone of the crew until she entered the ship. It appeared the men had celebrated a little too much the past night even after she had left them alone at the tavern. Some of them were sitting and lying around on deck just like they were still drunk or enjoying the aftermath of it. But she knew enough about pirates to know that it wouldn't stop them from anything not even from setting sail.

"Ms. Swan", someone who she recognized to be Smee suddenly said to her right. He was sitting on the stairs that lead to the upper deck and shielded his eyes against the sun with his right hand, "he is already waiting for you."

He moved in an attempt to get back to his feet, but Emma stopped him, "don't worry, I'll find him myself. Wouldn't be the first time after all."

"But he's ordered me to bring you", Smee shouted after her as she already climbed through the hatch under deck. Soon after that, she already heard his rushing steps following her.

She ignored the men she could see through the open cabin doors and approached the door to Hook's quarter, when Smee finally surrounded her and took the lead. He had had to run to reach the door before her.

He knocked, just as he had done it when she had forced him to two days ago and waited for Hooks answer. She wouldn't have wasted any more time with that. She would have just entered that room without caring about Hook's likings.

When they entered the room, Hook was already standing above the map he had spread across his desk once more. He didn't even look at her but used a circle to calculate their next route, "so finally you're here."

Emma looked at him in surprise, "did you expect me to be here earlier?"

"Indeed", he said half heartedly and finally looked up to her. They both knew he was lying. But it was an obvious fact that he was angry.

Before she could ask what was wrong he already started to let it out, "will you finally tell me now, what was going on between Base and you yesterday?"

Emma sighed and decided to explain it in her own words without causing trouble for the pirate, "he is just worried, I could try to kill you at night."

She looked around and frowned, when she remembered the structure of the ship, "by the way, where am I even supposed to stay?"

"Mr. Smee", Hook said and looked at his first mate instead of answering her, "get us something to drink."

"Aye", Smee saluted, before he left them alone and shut the door behind his back.

The captain, who already seemed to be in a better mood than before, surrounded the desk between them and made a gesture that included the whole room, "what do you think?"

Emma frowned, "of what?"

"This place."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and watched him carefully, "why don't you just answer my question? Where am I supposed to stay here?"

He sighed just as if he knew she wouldn't like the answer to this, "here. In this room."

"And you?"

"I'll take the hammock", he pointed at a hammock hanged up in a corner of the room between the shelves embedded into the wooden walls, "unless you want to share a place with some of my men, you'll have to put up with me, Love."

She didn't like this. Hook had the bad attitude to get excessively close to her and not just in a physical way. When others were running against walls he stopped right in front of them to search for holes to peek inside and that was far more dangerous than those others crashing into it. Base couldn't trouble her with anything he said as much as Hook was able to. She knew that even if those two would say exactly the same Hook's words would be able to hurt her. Around him, she appeared to be way too vulnerable. It wouldn't be easy to share a room with him.

But on the other hand, it would be far worse to share a room with one of his mates. Hook had a deal with her and he would make sure to stay true to that deal if he'd want her to help him with his revenge, while his men didn't have anything to do with it and she'd be far more careful with them.

"And what now", Emma asked like it didn't trouble her at all and nodded in the direction of the desk and the map on top of it, "what's with that?"

"I was calculating our route", he explained and walked up to it again.

"Our route to where exactly", Emma asked interested and followed him, "we've got three goals after all."

"Aye", he admitted and looked at her across the desk, "but before we can take care of any of our plans we need to full fill Regina's task, Love."

"So now you'll finally tell me how you plan to find that boy?"

The door opened and Smee came back with two jugs of rum. He placed it them on the map at the corners of the desk and stayed to listen as well. It seemed this was what he usually did in a situation like this.

"Rum", Emma asked even without picking one of the jugs, "seriously?"

"It's fare safer than water, Love. Water can make you sick if it's too old, rum not."

Emma rolled her eyes and didn't take the jug. She would need to think of something when she didn't want to drink rum all the time when they'd be on sea. She didn't plan to be drunk all the time.

She looked back at the map again and noticed a thin line Hook had drawn into it, "so how do we find him? If I recall everything right there hadn't been even a single track when he had disappeared."

"Right", he admitted and grinned, "but finding him will be easy. We just need to check a theory."

"What theory?"

"Regina believes her mother was the culprit behind all this. So all we need to do…"

"Are you insane or what is this about ", Emma asked rhetorically. She had heard enough of the Evil Queen to know about her evil mother. She had heard enough rumors about that twisted woman to know that they should avoid her as far as they could, if they really wanted to survive, "Cora isn't someone you simply visit to check her rooms."

A sudden noise from above was disturbing the silence around them, but they were too invested in their discussion to actually notice anything of it. Smee on the other hand was something they couldn't simply ignore since he was in the same room as them.

"Seems like the men are back to live, Sir", he said and looked up to the ceiling.

"Tell them to get the ship ready", Hook ordered and kept an eye on Emma who looked down at the map, "we're leaving now."

"Now", Smee said surprised but when he finally met his captain's glare, he rushed through the door without saying anything more.

Emma looked after the first mate and felt almost sorry for him. He couldn't have an own opinion in this or he would break his captain's orders if she wasn't mistaken. But something like that always depended on how strict a captain was.

Something caught her attention and her focus returned to the map between them. She frowned, "what are those red marks for?"

Hook swallowed hard, "those are the places I lost track of him."

"Him?"

"Rumpelstiltskin", he said slowly and watched her carefully. Hearing his voice when he said that name it was obvious he hated that man more than anything. Emma wasn't even slightly surprised to hear that. Nova had told her about Rumpelstiltskin and even now in this situation, she heard the echo of Base's voice in her ears saying, "do you even know what happened back then?"

"You already knew", he said curious, as she didn't show any sign of surprise or shock. Even though she didn't answer him, he continued, "why? How?"

"Why did you lose his track", Emma changed the subject hoping he would forget about this now. She wasn't disappointed.

"I don't know. If I'd know I wouldn't need you", he sighed.

"And what now?"

"We'll have to check Regina's mother or we won't do anything ever again, Love."

Was it really that simple? No, because maybe the price for bringing the kid to Regina would be too high and she wasn't thinking of her own life in this matter. She was worried for the boy, because no matter what Hook thought, she was the Evil Queen after all and you do not simply change if you've done as bad things as her, especially not if your chance of taking vengeance you've been longing to take for a longer period of time is as close as it was for her now.

A loud sound disturbed her thoughts, the ship started to shake like it had sailed into a storm and huge waves slammed against the windows from the outside.

Emma grabbed the edge of the desk to steady herself just like Hook in front of her. They exchanged a short glance before they headed to the door and run up on deck.

"What the hell was that", Emma shouted through the noise of screaming men that reached her ears through the hatch that lead on deck. She was grunting, because it wasn't that easy to run through the ship anymore since it was shaking so much.

"We are attacked", was Hook's short answer before he stormed on deck and overtook the command over his men immediately. While Emma followed him to the steering wheel on the upper deck, where Smee was already doing his best to steady the ship before it would beat leak or run on sand, she noticed every man on deck started to follow Hook's commands immediately. It was impressive even though there was no time to watch it at all.

"Are all of the men back", Hook yelled while his men hurried across the deck to get the ship ready by loosening the ropes so the sails could catch the wind at the harbor and hoisting the anchor.

Something hit the water and a small wave hit the ship and caused it to shake heavily. It crushed against the wharf that broke immediately. It's bursting wood flew through the air and some parts of it even landed on deck.

"Smee, what are you doing", Hook yelled and grabbed the steering wheel himself now, "so is everyone back?"

"Aye, Sir", the first mate reported and ran over to Blake to help him hoisting the anchor.

"What was that", Emma asked the Captain. She was soaking wet by now and kept holding on to the rail near the steering wheel. Hook looked at her in surprise before he pointed at the sky, "that."

Smee's shaking voice from before, the scared looks in everyone's eyes and the shouting of the men should already have been warning enough, that there was something bad coming but to actually see the big, yellow, orange, red and incredibly hot fireball flying through the air right into their direction, was still quite a thing to see.

Emma took cover just like everyone else as far as it was possible on deck of a ship and grabbed something to secure herself, when the fireball missed the ship and a huge wave hit the Jolly Roger as strong as she almost was swapped off deck.

"Finally get up that damn anchor", Hook yelled. He was almost smiling. Despite all the troubles and dangers they were in right now, the captain seemed to enjoy the whole situation. He even steered the ship out of the small bay and did his best to avoid the still attacking faire balls, by predicting their flight directions. Emma had to admit that he was pretty good at it especially since the huge waves and the mist caused by the evaporating water weren't helping at all.

It was strange but somehow the fireballs weren't directed as perfectly at them as before anymore. It was just as if whoever was sending those at them had lost direction, so maybe the mist hadn't been as bad as she had believed it to be in the first place. Now it seemed to actually be of help for them.

The fireballs stopped flying at them and the sea calmed down for a moment.

Emma searched the sky for any new attacks, before she looked at Hook again, who was doing the same, "what was that?"

"An attack", he answered absentmindedly.

The men around them stood up again. Everyone was wet and grunted heavily. Most of them searched the sky, while others looked back in the direction of the land. The mist was vanishing slowly.

"Is it over", Emma asked even though she couldn't see anything that would be threatening them anymore. But she had the strange feeling that they weren't safe yet. There had to be coming something. It couldn't be just over like that could it?

"No", Hook said and this time his good mood definitely was gone. He was locking back at the harbor they had left behind incredibly fast in her opinion and worries appeared on his forehead.

Emma followed his glance and noticed something that looked like a huge black cloud. But it wasn't a cloud. When she took a closer look and listened carefully, she could identify many black ravens flying towards them and sending their strange and creepy music across the ocean.

"What now", she asked starring at those ravens in disbelieve, while some of the men escaped under deck without waiting for an according command of their captain.

"Now we stand it through."

A second later, the ravens were hailing down on them, attacking their arms and heads, aiming for their eyes they had to protect with their arms, as if they were insane and had changed their eating habits. There was nothing they could do. No matter what they did weather it was hitting or catching them, other came to replace them immediately and on deck there was no way to hide anywhere from them.

"We need to get under deck", Hook finally yelled and his men followed his command immediately. They crowded around the hatch to escape the birds and created the perfect spot for them to attack at the same time, since no matter what the ravens did they always hit somebody.

Hook pushed her into their direction, but Emma didn't leave him alone. She looked back at him hiding her eyes behind her right arm, "what about you?"

"I'll need to stay and steer the Jolly."

"But if you do that you'll die", she stated horrified of the imagination of all those birds attacking just one person.

"Do as I say", he ordered and changed the direction of the Jolly Roger again, hoping the birds would be distracted long enough for his men to vanish under deck. But of course it was useless. The ship was way too big to escape the little birds.

Emma looked at the animals her thoughts running wild. She wouldn't follow his orders. She had never agreed to it and she wouldn't just leave him here alone. She had to come up with a solution. They could escape through leaving the ship behind and swimming back for two reasons. First, they had left behind the land behind too far to even think of swimming back and second the birds wouldn't stop to attack them just because of the water and they might drown trying it.

No, their solution was lying in the nature of those animals. There was one thing every creature was afraid of if it couldn't handle it, no matter if it was a dog, a lion, a human or a raven. Fire!

Emma looked around being spared of any attacks for a moment since the birds were concentrating on the men left on deck, who were still trying to escape through the hatch, until she found a piece of the broken wharf stuck in a plank behind Hook. It was soaking wet. Damn it.

"Emma!"

She froze and stared into the direction the familiar voice of the fairy was coming from.

"What the hell is going on here", Nova shouted through the noise of yelling men and slowly became visible.

"I need your help", Emma stated, "you need to burn this for me."

"Burn", Nova frowned, "you are on a ship. You can't make an open fire here."

"Just do it", she ordered, "and make sure to protect the rest of the ship."

Nova frowned as a magical flame started to crackle at the peace of wood, as she spread her arms and pulled out a small wand that light up the ship.

Emma didn't wait until she was done but simply ran up to the men and threw the burning wood at the sail of the main mast. It started to burn immediately and hungry and destroying hot flames licked their way up the linen of it. The birds were scared immediately and winced back before they disappeared completely.

But the sail kept burning.

"I hope you did it well", Emma whispered believing that Nova was still with her.

"Don't worry", the fairy sighed to her right, "but you need to get away because this will take off soon."

Emma looked at her in confusion, "what will take off?"

"Get back to work", Hook yelled and she could hear it in his voice that he was quite upset with her, believing his whole ship would burn down now. The men rushed back on deck what was just as difficult as getting down before, and ran past her to do their work. Some even fished for water to put out the fire she had started.

"I helped you", was everything Nova said before she disappeared again, "no matter what you do, don't look back to the shore."

"Why", Emma grunted as she ran back to Hook.

"Because it could invite her and if you do my protection will break."

Before the men could throw their water at it, the fire simply vanished again, leaving behind an intact sail filled with the wind crashing into it immediately. The Jolly Roger shot across the open sea like it was finally free. There was no sign of anything attacking them anymore. They had made it.

Suddenly she was pulled aside roughly and Hook stared into her eyes angrily, "how did you do that?"

Emma stared at him for a long moment. She didn't know what to answer. She could hardly tell him about Nova could she? She was her wild card, her best option to escape if she would have to and she didn't want to share information with him that was as important as the fairy. She didn't trust him.

"I just did what came into my mind."

He didn't seem to be pleased at all, when he came closer until she could not just hear his furious whisper but feel his warm breath at her ear, "don't you ever burn her again."

Even though his warning was quite threatening, she couldn't stop herself. She frowned in confusion, "who?"

"My Jolly Roger", he said angrily.

"Your ship", with that the tension was gone.

Hook rolled his eyes, he was still upset, "she is a marvel."

Emma raised an eyebrow, "she?"

Hook ignored her, "just don't do it ever again, Love."

She simply sighed, understanding that debating about the importance and worth of a human life in comparison to a ship would be useless since he was thinking of the Jolly Roger as a person. She resisted pointing out that she had just saved his life.

Hook misinterpreted her reaction as agreement and turned to talk to his men who were already surrounding them, "how many are hurt?"

Smee stepped forward, "twelve, Sir."

"Mend their wounds and get back to work", he placed a hand in her back and lead her to the hatch, "we've got work to do."

As they reached his cabin, she could not hold back anymore. There was a question that had been burning in the back of her mind ever since Nova had warned her not to look back and she had to ask it now.

"Who did that", she asked watching him carefully as he closed the door behind them.

His expression was more than dark as he approached the desk she was standing in front of, "that was her."

"Who? Regina?"

"No."

"Co-"

"Don't say her name", Hook stopped her as if he was furious with her.

Emma gave him a moment to calm down and look at the map that was pinned to his desk, before she asked, "why that?"

The captain frowned, "she cursed her name to find me as soon as I'd say it."

"What? Why", she stared at him in confusion.

He finally looked up to her. His face was expressionless, "Regina revealed to me, that her mother couldn't find me because of the Jolly Roger's natural powers. Her wood is enchanted. She said it was protecting me from any locating spell. So her mother cursed her name to avoid that protection."

"But you didn't say her name", Emma said confused and stopped before she could say, "I did."

Hook looked at her for a very long moment just as if he was studying her. She had the feeling he was missing something out that he did not want her to know. Just as if he was hiding something from her she should know. But whatever it was, he didn't tell her and she had the feeling she shouldn't ask for it now.

"It's not important anymore. We won't use her name anymore and she won't find us again", he stated and straightened his back, "we got away. Now tell me how did you do that?"

Emma frowned, "do what?"

"Burn my sail without burning it."

She shrugged, "I don't know. I just set it on fire without thinking about it. Maybe it was the Jolly Roger herself?"

He looked at her as if he didn't believe that at all.

"If the ship is able to protect you from location spells why shouldn't it be able to protect itself from a fire?"

"Because only her wood is enchanted, not her sails", he said watching her carefully. She was certain that he had the same problem as her. They both didn't want to share all information with each other even though they had agreed on it when they had made their deal. And they both knew about it. But neither of them wanted to make the first step.

"So where are we going now", Emma asked to change the subject. She resisted the urge to look down at the map, because she didn't want to be the first to look away. Starring at each other had turned into something like a battle along their conversation somehow.

Hook surrounded the desk and walked up to her, "Regina's mother lives on an island. That's where we start."

He kept walking, as he wanted to crash into her before he avoided her and walked up to a chest she hadn't even noticed before. He opened it waited for her to approach him.

"What is that", she asked coming closer and looked into the chest.

"That is everything I've found so far", he answered and watched her picking something up she had noticed in the chest without stopping her, "every track I've followed while searching for Rumpelstiltskin. I thought maybe you'll find something I dismissed."

She held up a small vial that was filled with a black liquid, "what is that?"

"It's a poison", he said down her right shoulder and his breath caressed her skin in her neck, "he won't survive it."

Emma raised an eyebrow. The Dark One was the most powerful person she had ever heard of besides the witch Cora, so how should a poison be strong enough to kill him? How did he even plan to get close enough to him to actually use it?

A finger touched a spot at her neck and she stared at the wall in front of her in surprise. He had missed the reflex point but still she was alarmed.

"How does that work", he asked as if he was more than curious, "what did you even do with me, when you hit that spot? Could you have killed me with that?"

"I'm a bounty hunter not a murderer, Hook", she pointed out feeling quite strange with his finger in her neck. He was way too close and this whole situation seemed to be out of place. He was making her more than nervous and she didn't like that he had as much influence on her.

"It does hurt like hell, but it doesn't kill you."

"Can you show me?"

"If hell freezes over", she stated coolly.

Hook started to laugh and it send a chill down her spine. She didn't need to turn and look at him to know that this was one of his honest laughs that even reached his eyes. It was confusing her already bad enough without seeing it.

Her eyes wandered back to the vial in her left hand and to the strand of brown hair that lead out of a piece of paper lying on top of the things in the chest, "why are you doing this?"

Hook's mood suddenly changed again. He stepped back, took the vial back and revealed a tattoo on his right wrist, "why do you care?"

"Because if I'm risking my life for this I want to know how important this is to you", she answered without hesitation and noticed that there was a woman's face drawn on that piece of paper, as he placed the vial back in the chest.

"Why are you hunting Blackbeard? What information does he have", he asked instead of answering her. It was like his eyes were challenging her to keep trying to get the information she wanted to have. Too bad that she was open to stuff like that, "is it about a woman?"

He looked at her in surprise. No matter what he had expected her to guess, he had never imagined her to ask that, it was obvious. She felt the urge to explain it, "the strand of hair, the picture and that tattoo at your right wrist…"

"You notice a lot", he said slowly and looked at her like he had just discovered that he had to be much more careful around her, if he wanted to keep secrets from her.

"Occupational hazard. I need to be careful", she shrugged and waited.

But he didn't answer her. The challenge in his eyes had disappeared and he even didn't ask for her reasons anymore. Somehow, she had disturbed the whole situation with her conjecture.

He stepped back, "I'll take care of my men. Feel free to search through that chest."

Emma stared after him and had the strange feeling that she had liked it better when he had breathed down her neck and had made her nervous.

* * *

Once again, thank you for your reviews.

I love to read them and I'm always glad to see what you think about it. I know it's a very slowly story and sometimes I have the feeling I'm too detailed and it gets boring through that...

But I hope you enjoy it anyway. I'll try to update at least once a week, but I can't promise that, since I'm busy with work and studying.

I hope you enjoy the next chapters as well and that you liked this one.

Have a nice weekend.

pinsel90 :)


	7. A common goal

7. A common goal

His head was hurting. Everything was dark. He closed his eyes and tried to feel his hands and feet. He wasn't even bound. When he got up to his feet he touched something to his right and a strange sound of something shoving across something filled the complete silence around him. He reached for it carefully and found it was a trail with food and water. Someone must have left it for him.

His stomach was roaring immediately. But could he trust not to be poisoned? He couldn't even remember how he had come here where ever "here" was. The last thing he could remember was saying goodnight to his baby nurse.

He was lost and alone and right now he would even have wished to see her of all people again, even though he didn't really like her. But mostly he missed his parents and Regina. They had finally been able to get along for him and maybe even because of him and now everything might be over because he had been taken.

He was scared knowing that he might not ever see them again. And he was frightened for himself, because he didn't even know where he was nor who had taken him. He was all alone in the dark and even though he had always wanted to be a hero just like his parents, he didn't know what to do at all. He felt helpless and the only thing that kept him strong was his trust in his parents and Regina. He just knew they would come to save him and he had to trust that they would achieve it. He knew if he would lose hope he would be lost.

* * *

Snow stood at the window and stared outside to watch the sea, but she didn't really see it at all. She was too lost in her worries and her pain to recognize the movements of the softly moving water and the reflections of the sunlight playing across it, sparkling on the almost white foam that was crowning each wave.

In the past she would have enjoyed to see it but not anymore. She couldn't bring herself to it.

She hadn't left this room for several days now. She knew it even though she couldn't count those days at all. She only knew that the last men had come back from their search for Henry and again their search had been result less. Nobody knew where her son was. They had searched through his bedroom for several times now and never had they found even a single hint to where he was or who had taken him. If he would have vanished into a wall he couldn't have been hidden better.

She had survived and lived through so many obstacles and troubles. She had lost her parents to death and to Regina. She had been hurt, almost killed for several times, her possibility to get pregnant had been taken and given back to her, she had almost lost her true love for several times and she had lost her daughter Emma without having any trace of her, accept a small piece of paper telling her that she was still alive. But nothing had brought her down entirely forever; nothing had pushed away her legs underneath her like it was happening now.

Maybe it was too much. Maybe losing Henry had just been the tip of the iceberg? Maybe all this had still be slumbering under the surface all those years? She didn't know. But she knew for certain that she had never overcome to lose her daughter completely and she knew she would never do it. It was a part of her and she was afraid that losing Henry should be one, too now. She was afraid he wasn't fine. She was afraid he was all alone. She was scared thinking he might be hurt or dying all alone. She was afraid she'd never see him again because the moment they would find him, he'd be dead. She dreamed of his dead body lying somewhere and starring at her with opened eyes because she had failed him. She was scared like hell that she would never find out what had happened to him at all. And she hated herself for these thoughts, because she knew they were destroying her hopes and her ability to hope, but she couldn't stop thinking like that.

She could almost feel how her hope was leaving her. It was almost physically. It felt like it was sucked out of her into the ground to her feet and along with it, her strength and willpower was vanishing as well. Everything that was left was weakness, pain, sorrow and darkness overtaking her heart like a dark fist grabbing for it. She was afraid she would waste her time and her concentration on this instead of searching for Henry and she couldn't stand to be stuck in this castle.

When they had lost Emma they had left their castle to search for her themselves for more than a month. They had forgotten about their tasks and responsibilities, they had stopped to care for the people they had to take care of and they had lost themselves in searching for their child, until that message had shown up. It had been a wake up call and they had barely made it back in time to prevent to lose their positions. Sure it had been meaningless and she was asking the decision to come back here over and over, but she was a royal after all. She had been raised as one and so she just couldn't let down the people that were entrusted to her.

This time they hadn't taken the risk and it ate her up from the inside. She felt hopeless and helpless because she didn't do anything but wait. It seemed to be pointless to sit around and wait for someone to finally tell her that they had found a track or even the slightest hint of where Henry could be. She felt like she had lost herself along with Henry.

Someone suddenly pulled her back and she sank into the warm, familiar and comforting hug of her husband, which seemed to be the only thing to ease her pain and her suffering.

He kissed her cheek leaning over her right shoulder and whipped away the tears she hadn't even noticed running down her face.

Charming could always help her. He was always the solution to her troubles. He was always there for her and was the only one to catch her when she fell like now.

"Snow", he whispered into her right ear and nestled his had on her shoulder where her neck turned into it, "we will find him. Don't give up."

"And how", she cried her nerves being raw, while she tried to keep holding on to the last bit of hope, "we couldn't even find Emma." She sobbed as heavily as her chest hurt and her shoulders were shaking as badly as Charming had to lean back again, "we've never seen her again."

He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms tighter around her, "but we will. And unlike back then Regina is helping us instead of fighting us. We don't need to worry about her and with her magical abilities we might really be able to find him."

"You don't even trust her", she stated and her voice changed between several octaves.

"But I trust in what she feels for Henry", he insisted, "and some of our old friends have arrived here to help us as well."

"Who", she asked almost mechanically feeling pushed back in time to when she had heard him say the same before. Back then Emma had been missing just one day and she had still been full of hope to find her. Now she wasn't even curious anymore.

"Ruby, Lancelot and the dwarfs. He has brought a woman named Mulan along and then there is an old friend of his. His name is Robin Hood. He's brought his merry men along. And Ariel is waiting down at the harbor", he answered detailed, "Blue even brought some of her fairies along."

"So?"

Charming let go of her and her back was freezing immediately. He surrounded her and took her shoulders to support and encourage her and looked deep into her eyes, "so we will find him, Snow."

She held back her stubborn and hurting words. She stopped herself from telling him, that he had already told her that when they had lost Emma and that they hadn't found her as well. She resisted the urge to yell at him and tell him that no matter what they had done, it had been useless and that it would be useless again now.

Instead of telling him that entire she allowed him to pull her along. They left Henry's room behind and she asked herself, when he would start to avoid this room as well. With Emma back then it had taken him two weeks to avoid it. She knew he hadn't done it because he didn't care for her anymore or because he wanted to forget her, but because it had been too painful for him to even enter that room. Even though she could understand it, she didn't want this to happen with Henry, too.

They didn't say anything anymore until they reached the round table where everyone was already waiting for them. Only Regina didn't look at them but at the ocean just like Snow had done it before, when they entered the room and walked up to their round table.

It was true, there were the dwarfs dressed in their usual brown and green trousers and jackets combined with their hats in brown, Blue, like always dressed in her sparkling blue dress, Cricket, standing in front of the megaphone, a woman who was ought to be Mulan dressed in an armor that was of a strange stile she hadn't ever seen before in the Enchanted Forest, Lancelot in his usual grey armor with the emblem on his chest, Ruby dressed in her red coat and Granny with her crossbow lying on the desk in front of her, Regina, dressed in a white dress that was tightly to her skin and a blue bolero to cover her shoulders, even though she wasn't sitting but standing at the windows, Guipetto and Pinocchio, who was still a kid thanks to the curse, and some strange men dressed all in green and brown like they had just left a forest they had been hiding at. Only one of them was sitting at the table. He kept watching Regina like he was confused by her, had brown hair and eyes and was dressed in brown and green. They ought to be Robin Hood and his merry men.

Snow tried her best to stay strong in front of all of those people even though most of them were close friends. She took a seat while Charming stopped standing beside her chair. He looked at the strangers for a second before he focused on the man sitting at their table, "you must be Robin Hood. Lancelot already told us you'd try to help us."

The man nodded slightly. His eyes were brown just like his hair and if she wasn't mistaken she could see something like regret and compassion in them, "me and my men."

"Thank you", Charming stated and looked at all of them, "all of you."

"So what now", Robin asked him, "where have you already been searching? What have you already done?"

Snow gritted her teeth to stop herself from saying that she hadn't done anything yet, because she was stuck in this damned castle, which had been her home once, to full fill stupid, pointless and unnecessary duties nobody could actually care about in her situation. But she held it back, because she was the Queen here and she didn't want to hurt her friends, who were doing their best to help them.

"We've send out guards", Charming answered, "they searched the whole land and some even got in contact with people of other realms. Nothing."

"I send out some of my fairies and we keep checking if we can notice him somewhere", Blue sighed, "but even though we should, we haven't found him yet."

"Why should you have found him yet", Robin asked and frowned.

Regina finally stepped back from the window and stared him down unfriendly. It was obvious she didn't like him to be here at all, "of course because he is all alone, hasn't anybody he knows with him, might be scared like hell, if he isn't even hurt and is just eleven years old. Do you need anymore reasons for a fairy to notice a boy like him in this situation? If not we could finally stop wasting time with this ridiculous nonsense and start to search for him."

Charming opened his mouth to say something but Robin got to his feet and leaned at the desk, "this ridiculous nonsense as you call it is necessary for us to understand where we need to search. What have you been doing the whole time for example? And why can't anybody notice something from the prince if it would be that natural? Did you know that most people are taken by the ones they are close to?"

Everyone stared at her as they heard those words. Regina snorted and shook her head in disbelieve, "do you really think I would be here if I had taken him again? I would definitely have something better to do than to stick around here and listen to your stupid ideas if I had him."

"If those ideas are so stupid why don't you come up with a good one yourself then", Blue asked without looking at her.

"At least I noticed that there has to be something hiding him from us", Regina said coldly, "or why do you think your fairies couldn't find him?"

"What about your magic", Jiminy Cricket asked through his huge megaphone, "have you been able to locate him?"

Regina sighed and turned back at the window again crossing her arms in front of her chest, "no." It was obvious she hadn't wanted to admit this.

"But who could be powerful enough to fool all of you", Ruby asked, "I mean, we've been fighting you in the past and we've hardly ever managed to get free of you. And Blue, you and your fairies have always found the ones in need and Henry definitely must be one."

"Rumpelstiltskin", Doc asked after a moment of thinking about it. He seemed to be scared of the possibility of it being true while bashful turned pale as he heard that name.

"But why would he do that", Granny asked into the round.

"What about this Maleficent", Dopey asked, "I heard her sleeping curses were brutal."

The rest of the dwarfs and Granny rolled their eyes, while Cricket said politely, "Dopey, that was the same sleeping curse Regina used on Snow, remember? And Maleficent hasn't got anything to do with us."

Regina let out a breath.

"Regina", Snow, who was able to read her better than anyone in this room, since she knew her the longest, asked slowly, "she has nothing to do with anyone of us, has she?"

The witch turned around to face them, "actually I bet her up to get the Dark Curse." She noticed the shocked expression in everyone's faces. They were shocked that she hadn't even stopped to threaten others like her in the past. She cleared her throat to explain, "but she can't have done it. I cursed her so she is frozen in her dragon form."

"I've seen that form", Charming said slowly. Actually he was the only one besides Regina who wasn't shocked of those information, "even though she is incredibly dangerous like that, she could never have taken Henry without destroying half of the castle."

"Fine", Lancelot said after a moment of silence in which everyone had been following his own thoughts, "but who else could it be?"

Blue, who had been silence for the entire time now, stopped watching Regina and took a deep breath, before she said, "I might have an idea."

Everyone was starring at her. Jiminy Cricket was the first one to snap out of it, but he just waited for her to continue, like everyone else watching her carefully. He knew what she would say now. She had talked with him about it in private before and he had advised her not to mention everything of it. He was both curious and nervous about what she would say now. He was afraid it could damage the bond that had emerged between Snow White, Charming and Regina. The bond that had finally brought peace to them.

"One of my fairies came up with an interesting idea", she said ignoring the stares, "Nova believes it might be Cora."

Nova, who was floating invisibly above their heads, turned all red and finally stopped starring at Grumpy, who winced when he heard her name. She hadn't wanted to come here at all, but Blue had insisted on it, since she was the only one being able to tell them what she had seen on the Jolly Roger. Sure, she hadn't told Blue about the circumstances under which she had gotten that idea, just like she hadn't told her about the conversation between Regina and Hook, but she could convince them that it could be an actual possibility that Cora was behind all this, since everyone knew about Blue's feelings and thoughts about Regina.

Her eyes wandered back to Grumpy's and she noticed that he wasn't paying any attention to them anymore. Instead of that he simply stared at the surface of the desk, but it felt like he wasn't seeing it at all. He was far gone in his thoughts and it seemed like he was remembering something that was quite tough for him. Nova knew what it was about. She didn't need to ask about it, since she kept thinking about it all the time herself. It was the time they had shared together he was remembering. And their parting.

Regina turned around to them and stared at the fairy that still refused to look at her. Was this just a coincidence or had that stupid fairy ordered someone to spy on her? If that was the case how much did she know? Did she know about Hook as well?

"But why would she do that", Mulan asked, since she didn't know what had happened between Regina, her mother and Snow White and frowned, "what use would she have of it?"

"She could hurt both of us in a single move", Regina pointed out. She was upset because this had gotten through now. She would have preferred to check that theory on her own first. Maybe she would have been able to convince her mother to give him back without anyone noticing it, but now she didn't have a choice but to pick a side and of course it was Henry's even though she felt split in half, because despite everything that had happened between her mother and her, Cora was still her mother.

But her biggest problem was that she might be losing her surprise effect by using Hook, because Cora might notice that she had gotten into focus in this matter if so many people would know about it.

"Is that really possible", Snow asked slowly, "it's been such a long time for I even saw her. I was still a child when she suddenly disappeared."

Regina rolled her eyes, "she "suddenly disappeared", because I send her into another world to finally be free of her and her control over me."

Everyone stared at her like they couldn't believe this at all.

Robin Hood was the first to speak up again, "and why is she back here then?"

Regina sighed and turned around to the window again. She didn't want to talk about that now. Her back-story wasn't the right subject to discuss with all those people and for sure not with a stranger like him. And the moment wasn't chosen well either. They had to think about Henry and nothing else. Despite that she already knew what their reactions would be like. They wouldn't understand her for trying to kill her mother, before she would have changed everything to her liking. She knew they would be disgusted to her that she had tried to kill her own mother, so she hadn't told anyone that she actually had killed her own father for that curse. It was still haunting her and she knew it might never change. Her father had been the most precious person in her life, especially after Daniel had been murdered by her mother. It had hurt like hell as she had to find out that she had killed him for nothing. That his death had been wasted because that stupid curse hadn't kept what it had been promising.

"So what do we do now", Charming asked, "we can hardly show up on her doorstep and ask her if she could be so polite and give Henry back to us, can we?"

"I think we should stick to the other ones you've mentioned", Regina said slowly. If they would she could concentrate on her mother and they wouldn't waste any time focusing on the wrong person. They could check on both Rumpelstiltskin and Cora at the same time and nobody would disturb her, "Rumpelstiltskin could be an option as well. He wanted me to use the curse back then and he was incredibly upset when it didn't work out." He had been the one to come up with the idea of cursing her mother's name in the first place even though he didn't know why the curse had failed just like her.

"I want to check the prince's bedchamber. Maybe I can find something you didn't", Robin stated and stood up.

Regina turned around to him, "and what could you possibly notice that I didn't?"

He grinned but didn't answer her just like he knew it would make her furious. Instead he turned to his men, "mix yourselves among the people and try to find out everything possible from them about the prince."

"But don't reveal that he is missing", Regina added and walked up to them, "we don't need to warn whoever is hiding behind this." She walked past them and left the room.

Robin followed her already guessing where she would go now. He was right, "I didn't expect you to join me."

"I'm just curious of what an ordinary man like you could notice that was missed by my magic, the fairies, Snow and Charming and maybe everyone else", she stated and lead the way up some stairs.

Robin followed her for a moment in silence until they reached a corridor with three wooden doors. As she opened one of them and waited for him to walk inside first, he stopped right in front of her in the doorway and looked at her amused, "maybe something you wouldn't even think about."

Regina frowned, "what could that be?"

"A stone on the floor, a scratch in the fitting of the fireplace or simply a picture hanging at a strange spot, let's say, behind a shelf", he said and entered the room.

Regina looked after him and watched how he searched through the whole room without touching or even moving anything. As he came to the fireplace he seemed to decide to break the silence that was hanging in the air between them like a heavy cloud, "what's wrong with your mother and you?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"I'm curious and you don't really have anything else to do right now, have you", he walked up to the bed and checked not just the blanket and the pillows but looked underneath it and climbed on top of the side table to take a look on the top of the canopy bed.

Regina snorted, "I'm not here for nothing."

"And what is the reason you are here", he asked in disinterest and walked up to the dressing room.

"I need to make sure you don't destroy any possible tracks of course."

He came back outside and looked at her like he was disappointed, "how should that even be possible, since you declared there was nothing I could find anyway. You want to make sure I won't steal something because you look down on me."

"Why should I?"

He walked up to her, "you definitely do."

She sighed and stepped back, "did you find something?"

"No", he answered, "there weren't even ashes on the floor around the fireplace."

Regina turned on her heels. She couldn't help but feel disappointed. Robin Hood had had a point when he had told her he might notice something none of them had before, because his life was a completely different one from theirs. But he had failed as well. There was nothing they had missed out. There wasn't a new track.

"You don't need to feel offended", she said even though she didn't know why she wanted to tell him this, "I'm just treating you like everyone else at that round table."

"No, you don't", he said and followed her outside again, "you're treating me like you were wishing I wasn't here at all. The question is, why?"

Regina didn't answer him but stepped back. She walked down the hall and didn't care that he was following her anyway. She didn't want to worsen their "relationship" through telling him that she was afraid he could run to her mother to tell her everything about Henry's missing and her desperate search for him. She didn't want to get another enemy in this castle, because she already had enough of them, since unless what Snow and Charming were thinking about her thanks to Henry, their friends still hated her.

Charming walked up to them and saved her from anymore questions without even knowing it, "did you find something?"

He hurried past Regina like she wasn't really there only focusing on Robin and embroiled him in a conversation. She was just fine with it. Like that she could find a place in this castle where she could be alone for a while. She needed to calm down and take a breath.

* * *

It was already late when she came back on deck. She had spent the rest of the day searching through Hook's chest, checking on maps and his scribbles on them, reading his notes and looking at that picture of the woman with the dark hair. She had looked at this picture a lot more often than she would have usually done it. Hook had made her quite curious with his strange reaction to her questions about her and she couldn't stop wondering what she had been like, that he obviously had cared for her as much as he had kept a strand of her hair and this drawing in addition to his tattoo with her name. She was certain that the Milah on his tattoo was the same as the woman on that drawing.

The way she knew him she would never have expected him to be as sentimental or at least to care as much about a woman, as to keep as many keepsakes of her as he actually did. And then there was this strange sentence of Base that kept running wild in her thoughts. It was true. She didn't know what had happened to him, so he would give everything to achieve a revenge on Rumpelstiltskin that wouldn't just destroy him but wouldn't help him at all.

She knew that no matter what he would do, no matter if he would achieve his vengeance it wouldn't change anything. The pain or his problems or whatever it was that urged him to this, wouldn't just disappear, when he would pay it back to the Dark One. His life wouldn't change permanently all of a sudden just because he would be feeling better for maybe an hour, if he would survive.

She stared at the mainmast in front of her ignoring the men on deck that crowded in a corner of the deck where Blake was giving out their meals. That was it. This whole revenge thing wasn't about the revenge itself. It was a self-murder mission, nothing else. He didn't plan to survive. He was too smart to believe that he would find a way to survive.

"Have you found something useful", he suddenly asked from behind her and brought her back to reality. She hadn't even noticed him approaching her in the first place.

Just because she had made a deal with Hook and had spent an evening with his crew at a tavern didn't mean she didn't need to be careful anymore. She scolded herself and leaned at the railing, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "nothing at all. But I didn't expect anything in the first place anyway."

"Why that", he asked mirroring her posture at the railing while looking at her carefully. He was curious and maybe he even was a little disappointed because he had hoped for results.

"Because if it really is true that somebody has cursed you or something like that so you wouldn't find any helpful clues, you couldn't write them down, could you? You would write down unimportant stuff that won't help you, because you wouldn't notice the important things."

Hook sighed deeply and looked out to the sea as he mumbled, "sounds logical."

Even though she knew what all this was about now, even though she was certain, that he didn't just want to take revenge on Rumpelstiltskin but to die in the process if it would be necessary and he seemed to count on that, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him, seeing him like that now. It was strange. It was confusing.

"You mentioned something about a woman called Belle in your notes", she found herself saying slowly, "how did you find her and why did you believe her to be important for you?"

Hook frowned at her like it was hard for him to remember, who she was talking about, "I had heard rumors of a woman defeating a beast and I knew that some people were talking of him as such. So I started to research for anything about that beast and the woman who beat it."

"What did you find out", Emma asked curious and watched him carefully. She didn't want to miss anything and she didn't want to be fooled by him for some stupid reasons.

"The beast had simply vanished and a man had been freed. He told me that the woman's name had been Belle and that she had freed him from a curse. He had been that beast", Hook sighed and shrugged, "that was everything."

"What happened then", she asked, believing that he was missing out something, that she might notice, if she'd know the whole story, "did you search for her?"

"No", he sighed, "at first I didn't want to, but there was a woman - Mulan was her name, I guess - and she told me that Belle had been talking of experiencing adventures, to prove herself and to overcome a heartache a cowardly and powerful man had caused, after he had taken her."

"Taken", Emma asked surprised, "what does that mean?"

"I found out that she was a princess and that this man had helped her father to defend his realm against ogres in exchange for her", he said and avoided to look at her. It was obvious he didn't want to say anything more.

"What then", Emma asked after a moment of silence, "what did you do then?"

"I searched that realm and found out, that all this was true and that it had been Rumpelstiltskin, so I went back to Mulan to find out to where she disappeared, just to stumble into a drunken soldier of the Evil Queen. He had taken the opportunity and had run away from her. He told me Regina had taken this Belle to her castle as a prisoner", he explained, "when I found her there, she couldn't or didn't want to tell me anything and I couldn't forcer her to."

"Why not", she asked surprised that he hadn't done it and curious why he couldn't, as he said.

But Hook didn't answer her. Instead of it he changed the subject, "I guess we should start searching for a way to check on Co-, her and find the kid before we do anything else."

Emma frowned, "what is it?"

"What is what", he asked confused.

"The reason you are avoiding to answer me", she demanded to know and followed him up to the steering wheel. He couldn't possibly believe that she'd simply let him get away like that, could he?

"I'm not."

Lie.

"Fine. Than explain to me, why do you want to help Regina after you broke into her castle? What is your connection to her?"

He froze and stared at her, "how do you know that? I didn't write anything about it in my notes."

Emma raised an eyebrow, "please. You just told me she had imprisoned a woman close to the Dark One and seriously expect me to believe that you just had to knock on her door to visit this Belle?"

He sighed in annoyance and looked at her without saying anything for a long moment. She felt like she pushed him into a corner and he didn't really like it at all. But she couldn't understand why. It was not like she had asked him about Milah or his reasons for taking revenge on Rumpelstiltskin or anything as personal like that. She had only asked him about his plans and his reason to do something that wasn't even really of his concern.

"What's your problem", she asked after a moment of silence. If he really wanted her to help him, than he had stop blockading everything she tried to do it.

She only barely noticed his men watching them and trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, while pretending to be eating. Hook didn't even notice it at all, as it seemed or he simply didn't care. Sometimes she thought he was too trusting with them anyway. But she hadn't been on board long enough to actually judge about that yet.

Base and Smee were standing closer to them than the others and for sure they were able to overhear their conversation perfectly. Smee was shoving as much food into his mouth as you could believe he was afraid someone could steal his ration right out of his hands if he wouldn't swallow it fast enough, while Base looked from him to them and back and frowned, just like he didn't like what he noticed.

"My problem is", Hook answered her slowly, before he whispered, "my problem is that I shall find a boy who I haven't planned to search for at all, while I'm not even able to find the one person I really do want to find and an insane old witch is hunting me down. I don't know where to start, Swan. Or if I do I just can't bring myself to do it since I actually want to do something else."

Emma nibbled at her bottom lip for a moment and stared back into his eyes. She didn't know anything about Prince Henry. She needed his help. They were a team now even though she wasn't good at team playing. She needed every information, he could give to her and for that she needed to know what Regina really was like. She didn't want to help her to get the boy, if she'd hurt him in the end. Even after everything that had happened in her past, she had never been able to watch an innocent child in pain and so her conscience was telling her, that she shouldn't help Regina if she wanted to hurt the Prince.

But in this matter she had to relay on what Hook would have to tell her about Regina, so she would be able to estimate if she really was like the person everyone was talking about. She needed to know if Regina really was like the Evil Queen in the old stories.

Belle came into her mind. She had been involved with Rumpelstiltskin and Hook had believed her to be a possible source of information, or he wouldn't have broken into Regina's castle, so she had to know something helpful. And if she really had been heartbroken by Rumpelstiltskin they had to have been close enough to each other, that she had been important to him. In that case Regina couldn't have let her free without having to fear the Dark One's revenge on her.

"What is it", Hook suddenly asked and pulled her back to reality. He had been watching her the whole time and whatever it was he had seen in her expression it had made him curious enough to interrupt her thoughts.

Emma shook her head slowly, "I just thought…you could make a deal with Regina."

"About what", he asked interested but retiring and somehow even skeptically.

Emma hesitated to answer him, "about the kid. You agree to do it if she gives you this Belle."

Hook sighed, "you don't understand it, do you? It's not like I had an option in this. I have to do it. It's do or die, Swan."

"Which is still an option", she joked and ignored his glare.

"But not one I would take", he stepped closer and stared into her eyes like he could see right through her, "I've got something better to do than to die, I can assure you."

"I know", she stated, "but she needs you or she wouldn't have shown up here. You've successfully sneaked into Regina's castle in the past, haven't you? So she relays on you doing it a second time with her mother's. She believes you can check on her mother for her, which seems to be something she can't do herself."

Hook shook his head, "no. I was just the first one to come into her mind, nothing more. She'll kill me if I'll offer her a deal."

Emma looked at him for a long moment, "what makes you believe she won't just kill you if you've done what she wants? After everything I've heard about the Evil Queen she wouldn't hesitate to kill you no matter of what result you're searching will be. After everything I've heard about her, she definitely belongs to the people who don't have any problem with killing the messenger."

Hook crossed his arms in front of his chest, "and how do you expect us to sneak into her mother's castle?"

Emma gave it a long thought. She walked past him and stopped at the railing, starring out to the sea before she turned to look at him again, "what is it that witch wants the most?"

"Regina?"

"No", Emma answered understanding that she had chosen the wrong way to ask without mentioning Cora's name, "her mother."

"Regina", he answered without hesitation and grinned at her as he understood what she wanted to say with this. He was impressed. He grinned widely, "you'd really made a good pirate, you know?"

She faced a smile, "and I always believed that statement was just a trick, to convince me to make that deal with you."

He chuckled and walked up to her, "you didn't make it easy for me anyway."

Her smile vanished, "I'm a bounty hunter, nothing else. What you believe to notice in my abilities is just what I do everyday because it's my job. I am not a pirate."

She didn't like what he obviously had believed to be a compliment. For him it definitely was one and it was logical he was thinking like that. But Emma hadn't made any good experiences with pirates. All she knew about them was, what she had seen in taverns, while fighting them and when Blackbeard and his crew had taken the most important and reliable person from her. She didn't want to be compared to pirates at all.

"How do we play them into it", she asked changing the subject.

It didn't work.

Hook came closer until he was standing right in front of her, "you must be thinking highly of us, Love."

She noticed the sarcasm in his voice, but she didn't want to react to it. It would be pointless anyway and it would just worsen her relationship to the men on board, who were trying to spy on them, if she'd announce how much she disliked pirates.

No, she didn't answer, "you should come up with an idea. You know both Regina and her mother better than I after all."

"You know", he whispered as closer to her now, that she was able to feel his breath on her lips, while he looked at her through narrowed eyes, "you can't hate and blame every pirate for what you accuse Blackbeard for, Love. There are some who are real gentlemen."

"And of course "devilishly handsome", I guess", she asked ironically using his own words to make fun of him.

A smile appeared on his lips and it was the most genuine smile she had seen him do yet. It was confusing, made him look younger and more attractive. Yes, she had to admit that he really was attractive, but she would never tell him so. And it wouldn't change anything. He was a pirate after all.

"Indeed", he grinned and his voice was as low as he was almost purring like a cat. Emma ignored Smee's intrusive attempts to eavesdrop on them. She was feeling strange enough of being in such a situation with Hook.

They stared at each other like they wanted to read in each other's eyes to find out what they were really thinking. His gaze was implying something she didn't want to give a try, so she tried to change the subject again, "so what are you planning now."

Hook shortly raised an eyebrow before he narrowed his eyes again and focused on her mouth, a grin appearing on his lips. He wasn't serious, she could see it, but still her body reacted to it. Her lips turned hot just like the blood of her entire body had decided to gather in them. She was nervous and her instincts were telling her to run away as fast and as fast as she could, because if he had that much influence on her, if he wasn't even serious about it, she didn't want to find out, what it would be like if he would be once day.

"What do you want to do about Regina and Co… her mother?"

Those names had been like a slap in his face. He stepped back like she had shoved him away and sighed heavily, "it's not like I could influence Co…her at all. As soon as she'll find me, I can be happy if she simply kills me."

Emma frowned and followed him back to the steering wheel, where Smee was pretending to do is job, "why that?"

"I deceived her."

"How?"

"I think you had a good point there about making a deal with Regina", he avoided to answer her again walked down the stairs to approach the hatch, "Base, take care of the steering wheel. Mr. Smee, bring me the mirror."

Emma followed him, while his men obeyed to his commands, "what mirror?"

"An old gift of the Queen. She likes to communicate through them", he explained like it was nothing special at all.

"Why did she give it to you", they approached the door to their cabin.

"There was a time she enjoyed giving me orders until I came back to the Jolly Roger and she couldn't reach me anymore", he held open the door for her and soon after they had entered the captain's quarters Smee followed after them. He was carrying a small black mirror with a handle in his hands that was carefully covered with a dirty peace of cloths.

Hook took it and sighed, "make sure not to make any sound, both of you."

Emma frowned, "if this is a mirror can't she already hear us?"

"That's not how it works", Hook explained and stopped in his movement of reaching for the cloths with his hook, "the spell on it only gets activated if someone is looking at it."

Before she could answer another question, he pulled off the cloths and held it out to her so she would hold on to it and looked into the mirror so neither of them could see anything or could be seen except for him.

* * *

Regina closed the door behind her silently hoping that nobody had noticed her sneaking into this room. She had had to search her way through two floors until she had found one where she would be completely alone.

She walked up to the mirror that had been the reason she had chosen this room besides the silence and on the way she let her dark blue bolero fall on an armchair, that was standing near the fireplace. She wouldn't need it in this library. She was surrounded by bookshelves, which covered almost every wall except the two spots of the fireplace and where the mirror was hanging.

"Come on", she demanded, "show up."

The big green face of the genie, who had captured himself in a mirror eking out an existence of her reflection for so many years now, appeared in front of her and filled out the whole mirror, "you whish?"

"Has the damn pirate already tried to get in touch with me", she asked tensely. She felt she was wasting time. She wanted to know if he had finally left that stupid little place and she wanted to hear is plans of checking her mother.

The face in the mirror sighed and vanished to make space for the face of the pirate.

She didn't even greet him, "so what is your plan."

"Good evening, my lady, I'm also delighted to see you", he said sarcastically using all his charms but when he saw her expression, he decided to answer her question before she could urge him to, "and I've got a deal, I want to offer to you."

She frowned. She didn't like what she was hearing at all, "what deal?"

He wetted his lips and his smile vanished, "I'll take the risk and search through your mother's place if you give me something for it."

Regina stared at him, feeling that she wouldn't like the answer to her question, but she had to ask it anyway, "and what would this something be?"

"A lass you're hiding from the world", he answered watching her carefully, "her name's Belle."

Her blood seemed to freeze in her veins as she heard that name. She didn't like his condition and her mind was already running wild searching for ideas to force him to do, what she wanted him to do, without doing anything for it.

"You're asking for a lot, Pirate", she stated, "if you want her, you'll have to do more than to simply check on my mother."

"Simply", he asked in disbelieve, "doing that is anything but simple, Regina."

"If you really want her, you have to find Henry", she demanded, "and I'm not just talking of searching through my mother's castle. I'm talking about finding him where ever he is. You'll only get Belle in exchange for Henry."

Hook stared at her without even seeing her. She could almost see is thoughts running wild, but she didn't care. She wouldn't give up Belle that simple after all the troubles she had had with her in the past and the risk of having to face Rumpelstiltskin if he'd ever find out that she had been holding her captive pretending she was dead. Besides that she had a very important personal reason to make sure she would stay in place, which meant in her castle.

She was playing with the thought of demanding Hook's answer, but instead she decided to listen to his plan first, so she repeated in a demanding voice, "what is your plan, Hook?"

"It's actually quite easy", he asserted and smiled perky at her, "my….", he stopped and searched for the right word until a female voice in the background prompted it for him. But still he pronounced it strangely, "my partner and I sneak into her castle, while you distract her. That's everything."

Regina stared at him for a moment before she let out a breath in disbelieve, "don't tell me you really believe it'll be that easy."

He tried to stay cool, but she could see his eyebrows moving for a very short moment, "I do."

"In that case, my dear captain, you and your partner should stick your heads together and come up with an idea how you actually intend to even get inside her castle without her noticing it, because she has placed a protection around it ever since my curse failed. You can't just sneak inside without her noticing anything", she said annoyed and pronounced the words "captain" and "partner" specifically according to the mood she was in.

"But they could make it, if you'd help them", someone suddenly said from behind her. She turned on her heels totally surprised, because she hadn't noticed anyone following her, not to mention coming into this room.

Robin Hood was just closing the door behind him, like it was the most usual thing that he was here in this moment and this situation.

"I thought you were talking with Charming", she said out of confusion and totally forgot about Hook in the mirror.

"I was. But now I'm here", he stated and walked up to and the mirror, "and I think his plan could work, whoever this captain and his partner is. But you need to help them."

Regina resisted letting out a breath. She was glad he hadn't overheard everything, since she didn't want anybody to know about Belle. If would have heard about her, he would have done what everyone usually did in such a case. He would have demanded that she would let her free again and if she would have refused it, he would have told everyone until she would have been under pressure until she'd do it.

She turned back to the mirror, "what makes you even believe she would let me distract her at all?" She was upset because she hadn't noticed Hood following and spying on her. She was upset because now he knew not just about her plan to check on her mother, but about Hook as well. The captain had been her wild card. He had been her safety net just in case the others would decide to turn their backs on her in the end and she would have to search for Henry on her own and maybe in direct concurrence to them. Now he knew about him and her secret plan, for what they would blame her again and he would certainly make sure they'd find out about it.

Hook almost chuckled openly, "Regina, she even pretended to be dead just because she wanted to have you back. All she wants is you, how can you doubt you can distract her?"

She sighed and looked away. She bit the inside of her bottom lip and whished Hood wasn't standing behind her, listening to everything she said. She turned around and glared at him, "you have the choice. Either you leave now or you stay here and you won't reveal any of this to the others."

"Why don't you want to tell anyone", Hood frowned.

Robin Hood was a handsome man and quite charming man, even though he couldn't hide that he was living in a forest, because of the ground on his trousers and the slightly smell of forest. But she might actually have been attracted to him, if he wouldn't have gotten himself into searching for Henry, especially not with all of his men. Sure, he might be helpful and skilled but she was the one at risk now that he had overheard everything. If Cora would find out she would disturb her search and play her against the others in order to have her for her own again, just like Hook had said it. She might even use Henry as soon as she'd find him, if she wasn't the culprit herself. And if she would start to search for him as well, in that case, there was no doubt she'd find him before anyone else, since nobody expected her to do it and she was a witch unlike Hook, so her possibilities of finding him were much higher, than his. Hell, her possibilities would even be better than her own, since nobody would focus on Cora like they would do it with her.

"It's safer this way", she stated, "I have my reasons. Choose."

He looked at her for a very long moment, before he sighed and his face lighted up. He turned, walked up to the fireplace and sat down into an armchair standing front of it. He crossed his legs and made himself comfortable.

That was answer enough. Regina turned back to the mirror, "fine. But you have to get on that island on your own. I'll think of a way to make it possible for you to stay invisible for her until you reach the castle. But I have no clue how you can get through the barrier she has placed around her castle. You'll have to come up with something yourself in this matter."

"If you do your part of the work, then she shouldn't be able to come back to us", Hook stated, "she should be too concentrated on you by then."

Regina stepped back, "tell me, when you're close to her island and don't land there. Anchor around 4 miles away from it and wait for me."

"As you whish, my lady", he said jokingly, knowing that there was a genie captured in her mirrors and vanished again.

As she picked up her bolero, Robin stood up and walked up to the door to keep it open for her, "you seem to be nervous."

"Worried would be the better word for it", she answered in an arrogant voice and walked past him. She didn't wait for him but walked down the corridor to get back to the others again.

"You loved the prince, didn't you", Hood asked with polite curiosity and followed her closely.

"I DO love him, since he is still alive", she corrected him and avoided to add that she would even still love him, if he wouldn't. To even consider that option was too painful.

He followed her for a moment in silence. She was fine with that. She didn't want to discuss everything that had just happened in that library and the good guys usually wanted to do something like that.

"Never though an "Evil Queen" to be capable of loving a child", he finally said more surprised than skeptically to himself, as it seemed and walked up to her, "or did I get something wrong? You are the "Evil Queen", aren't you?"

"Just like I didn't expect a mere thief to be welcomed in a castle to help to find a boy, he has no connection to", she growled angrily and turned to look at him.

"A thief you hunted down with wanted posters. They didn't really catch my features, you know", he said jokingly, but she could hear the hint of a hurt pride in his voice anyway. Was it because she had called him a thief? But he was one, wasn't he? Why did she even care? He had called her "Evil Queen" and that hadn't been polite either. She had always hated that name.

Did she care because of Henry's influence on her? He was the first person who actually seemed to question that title she had owned for such a long time now after all. But was he really questioning that status or her love for Henry?

He was confusing her.

"But you are a thief, aren't you?"

Hood sighed and a small smirk actually appeared on his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes, "No, actually I don't believe I deserve that title."

"And what would you prefer", she asked curious and kept her mask of annoyance by acting arrogant. She was perfect in doing that. Like that she could deceive everyone, even her own mother and Rumpelstiltskin.

He looked at her for a long moment just like he was studying her, before he walked up to and whispered, "does it even matter, since you believe I was one?"

Regina almost grinned, "you just implied I wasn't like an "Evil Queen" at all and yet I still am even though you don't seem to believe it."

Hood looked at her for a long moment and she had no doubt, that he understood what she meant perfectly. She had basically just told him, that despite what others thought of you, you could still be the bad one. His glance almost became gently and it felt like it was caressing her, but she didn't believe that he even noticed that himself.

"You think you deserve that title?"

She surrounded him like a tiger ready to attack in an attempt to scare him, "I did indeed. Fear is a useful tool if you know how to use it."

"And did you", he asked just barely moving his head in her direction without turning around with her.

"I definitely did and I still do", she stopped surrounding him and continued to walk back to the room with the round table, where the others would be waiting for them.

"But do you think you still do deserve it", he asked anyway and followed her on her heels.

She took a deep breath. No, she didn't. She had changed ever since she had met Henry. But she wouldn't tell him so. Usually nobody believed her something like that, so why should he be the exception?

Hood drew his own conclusions out of her silence, "what I'm trying to say is, if you believe it, it is true, because you're acting according to what you believe. And what you said earlier could work the other way around either."

"Do you want to have proof", she asked annoyed, "I can easily give it to you. But I've got to warn you, you certainly won't like me hurting you, like I hurt everyone else."

Hood just followed her without saying anything anymore. Maybe she had threatened him to much? Maybe she had sounded too proud of her sins? Or had he just remembered something she might have done to him in the past and she had just stabbed a knife into his wound? Had she done something to hurt him beside the wanted posters, like she had hurt everyone else? It was possible. And in the end there wasn't anybody she hadn't hurt with her failed curse anyway, was there? But she couldn't remember anything she could have done on top of all that.

The door to the room was opened, but before she could place even one foot inside the room, a small cute boy with dark hair ran outside, almost crushing into her, because he was in such a hurry, as he ran up to Hood yelling, "daddy."

Regina stared at the boy with the same brown eyes as Hood, in his father's arms in surprise. She hadn't known that Hood had a family, but before she could say anything about it, they were already called inside.

Robin walked past her carrying his son in his arms, who started to play with his hair as if it was the most usual thing to do. It was lovely to see them together and it made her remember Henry. Through watching them, knowing that Henry was gone got even worse. It hurt more then before.

"We've got a problem", Charming said darkly, waiting for them at the table where the others were gathered as well. Just Mulan, Lancelot and the Merry Men weren't there.

"What's up", Regina asked snapping out of her dark thoughts and approached them walking past Robin, who was placing his son back on his feet again.

"Ogres", Charming said and sighed heavily, "they seem to have multiplied rapidly and now they come down from the southern mountain slopes. They attack the villages at the mountain foothills."

Regina held back a sigh. She perfectly knew what they would say now even without listening to them. They would focus on that matter now, because they were the good ones and as such they couldn't let down the people in those villages. But what about Henry?

She looked at Snow and noticed her pale face and the pain in her eyes and realized that it wasn't easy for her and that she maybe even was thinking the same as her.

"What are you going to do", Hood asked curious and seriously.

"I'll take my men and take care of it", Charming said whereupon Snow looked at him in fear. They all could remember the old ogre wars perfectly and they knew it wasn't as easy as he made it look like.

"I'll join you", Robin said to her surprise. He looked down at his son, "I just need to wait until Little John is back, so he can take care of Roland."

"I'm certain our foster-nurse will be happy to watch over him", Snow said silently. Usually she would have added that she'd be glad to have him around and that she'd be happy to watch over him herself, too, or something like that, but Regina assumed her pain was still too present. She couldn't blame her for that.

It was funny. After all those years trying to defeat her and hurt her, she was feeling sorry for her, now that she obviously was grieving. It was ironically.

"I'll call for Hillary", Charming said and slightly pressed Snow's hand, before he left her alone.

The dwarfs jumped to their feet, just like Ruby. They would keep on searching for the prince just like her.

Regina sighed. However, the ogres would distract everyone anyway and the search for Henry would suffer through it. She couldn't allow that. She needed them to focus on it or it would take longer to find him, as she whished for.

"I'll help you", she heard herself saying, before she even had made the decision to do it.

"You will", Snow said hopefully and stood up. She was surprised just like everyone else, since even though she had made her peace with them, she had never helped them in such matters before.

"Yes", she stated, "if I help you, we can concentrate on Henry faster again."

She already had an idea of what she would do. There was no need for guards. She would simply use her magic. The problem was, she needed to get close enough to them so it would work. Mirror magic wouldn't help her in this, "bring me to them and I can take care of them."

* * *

_I hope you liked it. I'm trying to upload fast :D_

_And again, thank you for all the Reviews, the follows and the favorites. :flowers:_

_See you. pinsel90_


	8. Getting in touch

8. Getting in touch

Emma rolled herself to the side. She didn't want to wake up yet, but she knew, since she already was thinking something like that, it was too late. She was awake. She had found out that sleeping on board of a ship could be quite comfortingly. This was already the fifth morning after Hook made a deal with Regina and she had to admit besides the nights, it could be quite boring on board, since she hadn't anything to do but wait for them to reach the next harbor. The men kept working, chatting and laughing all the time, when they weren't simply lying on deck, enjoying the sun. Nevertheless this wasn't an option for her, since she didn't know anything about sailing and didn't want to get in their way, when they were doing it.

Most of the men still avoided her, but she was fine with that. She didn't want to get closer to them, because it was just too awkward, to suddenly team up with them instead of fighting them. Maybe it would change if she'd open up to them a little more, but she wasn't good at opening up to others and she had been alone for too long to simply do it.

Hence she had spent those past days thinking everything through.

After everything Hook had said and she had heard about her herself, Cora wasn't someone you wanted to visit at all. She was dangerous and according to Hook she was always hungry for power and quite unforgiving. Even though he still refused to tell her, what had happened between them, she could imagine that it would be more than dangerous to sneak into her realm, even if Regina would really do her part in this. Moreover she just couldn't ignore her suspicion that all this might be a trap of the two witches.

She had heard too many stories about them to suddenly believe, that the Evil Queen miraculously would have changed as much as to help someone to find their child. She knew that Hook knew her better and that he could imagine it to be true, but she doubted it anyway.

As she had told him so, he had just rolled his eyes, talking of trusting people and that he was able to read them quite well. She hadn't paid much attention to that especially not after he declared to be able to read her as well and that she was an orphan, if he wasn't mistaken.

Emma looked at the hammock hanging in a corner of the cabin in the dark. It was still quite early and Hook was sleeping. She could hear the steady sound of his breath to the ordinary sounds of the ship making its way through the sea.

The first night here had been strange. After sleeping in forests and stables for so many years the bed had been too comfortable for her. And the sound of his breath and his movements, when he had turned in his hammock or something like that, had been quite strange, after such a long time of sleeping alone.

She watched his sleep for a second without seeing his face at all and remembered times, she usually never thought of. Times when she hadn't been alone, when there had always been someone sleeping next to, eating with her, laughing, joking and sleeping with her. A time when she had believed everything could be resolved if you never stopped hoping, because love was hope. A time when she had believed that love was the solution.

Emma sat up and shoved her feet into her brown boots that nearly reached her knees. She didn't want to think about that. This wasn't the time to do it. Actually there would never be a time to do it at all.

She looked down on herself to make sure her green shirt was in place and shoved it into her brown trousers, where it had gotten out of it. It was quite cold in this room without the comfortable bed in her back and the warm blanked covering her, but she ignored it. She undid her braid, before she ran her fingers through her hair and bound it up again. Then she stood up, took her cloak and approached the door carefully making sure she wouldn't be too loud.

"Where are you going", Hook suddenly asked in an almost sleepy voice.

She turned to look at him, not believing what he pretended for even one second, "outside."

"Is something troubling you, Love", he asked out of the blue and finally stopped pretending she had woken him up.

"Our plan", she stated just as silently as him without hesitation, even though she knew he wouldn't want to hear that, "I don't like it."

Although she could barely see him in the dark, she noticed that he was folding his hand and his hook behind his head. His voice was calm, "do you have a better idea?"

Emma looked at the windows and walked up to the table thinking about it. She knew he was watching her every move, while her head was running wild. She had been thinking about it in the past days as often as her head had started to hurt and she had needed to find some distraction to stop any thoughts. She sighed.

"You see", he said silently after a moment of silence and sat up in his hammock that waved through his movements, "there is no other way."

She watched him shoving his feet into his boots and straightening his shirt. She didn't want to accept it, "just because we can't come up with something else, doesn't mean there is no other way."

She didn't know why they were talking as silently as they had to be careful not to wake up anybody, but she found that she somehow liked it. It felt intimate, but it wasn't uncomfortable as it usually was, when he suddenly said something about her that was way too true. When he read her like an open book.

He wasn't pretending to be someone he wasn't and he didn't try to use his charms on her to fool or trick her into something, like he usually did. He was just there and acknowledged her the way she was and the way she was thinking. He acknowledged her worries about their plan and seemed to be interested in her thoughts honestly, which was quite comforting.

She hadn't known how much she had missed something like that before. The last time she had experienced this she had been traveling and working with Graham. Maybe she had even developed a little crush on him. But he was gone.

He walked up to her slowly without leaving her out of sight. She noticed that she liked him better without that cloak somehow. He didn't seem as rigid as when he was wearing it anymore.

He surrounded her and the desk and turned his back at the windows to look at her, "but we can only do, what we can come up with, Love."

Emma looked down at the map, which was still lying on his desk, "but why do we take that risk without even knowing for certain that the boy really is with Regina's mother?"

Hook's expression changed from comfort to interest and curiosity, "what do you mean?"

"Your task in your deal with Regina is to find Henry", she explained slowly and looked at him, while her thoughts were running wild, "you don't need to check on her mother if we know for certain that the kid isn't with her."

"And how shall we find out about that", he asked carefully.

"Where did he disappear?"

"In his bedroom", he answered without hesitation, "at least Regina told me so."

Hook sighed, as he noticed her lively eyes. It was like she was telling him what she wanted to do with just one look. It was strange, but he had noticed that they were doing that often lately - talking without saying anything. They were traveling together for just five or six days and he already could understand her without saying anything at all. And so did her.

"No", he said answering to the look in her eyes, "you can't be serious."

"Why not", she asked with the most innocent expression he had ever seen in her face.

"We could get caught."

"Even if, it can't be worse than being caught by her", she stated softly and totally positive about her idea.

She was right. If they would be caught there they would be able to escape again. But still…

"We would only waste our time", he argued softly.

"Why that", she asked surprised, since she didn't think so.

Hook sighed and looked at the desk searching for the right words, "because whoever is helping them must already have searched through that whole place before. Even Regina couldn't find any proof for her mother being the culprit. There is no evidence."

Emma surrounded the desk and walked up to him. Her words were quite urgent just as her look, "but maybe she was concentrating on her mother too much and didn't notice something that could be leading into a completely different direction."

He returned her look and found himself caught in it. He knew that just seconds ago he had had a good argument against it, but now he just couldn't recall it anymore. She didn't seem to notice how much she was bewitching him right now at all. She was too caught up in her idea, to notice the change in him, for what he was glad for, since he didn't know if he was fine with that.

Milah.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to break their eye contact. He forced himself to look away from her still sleepy eyes and the innocence she embodied as shortly after waking in his eyes.

He was confused of his own thoughts and his reaction to her.

"It will be useless", he said weakly, knowing that he was going to lose this discussion.

Emma was irritated of his reaction. She felt like he had suddenly shut a door on her and she was still able to see him through the glass of it. But what she could see now, was only a weak representation of him, just like she was seeing his shadow without seeing him. He had locked her out again and she didn't know why. She couldn't understand his reaction, especially since she had enjoyed their close and pure exchange that hadn't involved any deeper meanings in every word they said like it was usually the case.

She blinked and tried to ignore the bad taste in her mouth, but nevertheless her words didn't lose their honesty and strength, "how can it be useless if it could save our lives?"

Hook let out a breath and looked down at the map, which was answer enough for her. She had won. They would change their plan and they would change their direction.

Nonetheless she felt as if she had lost.

* * *

Hook had been right when he had shown her around on board back then. Blake really was a great cook and ever since he had been scolded for his messy galley, he took care of it precisely. Nobody was allowed to enter it anymore, if it wasn't his turn to make a meal and when they were done, he checked on them, to make sure they would leave the galley like they had entered it.

Emma sat on the rail and looked out to the sea, while eating her breakfast consisting of bread and ham. Hook had changed their direction as soon as the sun had risen, but he had avoided her every since they had left the cabin. She didn't understand why. Usually he was the one sticking around and invading her personal space just like he didn't even know what that was. But now he was staying at the steering wheel without joining her or talking with her about unimportant stuff, just to speak with her. Now the only thing that reminded her of his presence was the glance he threw at her every now and then.

"Don't you think that's a little dangerous", someone suddenly said from behind. She turned to look at him and noticed it was Base. It was strange but somehow she was disappointed it was him.

"Why that", she asked lightly and turned around to him so her legs were hanging down to both sides of the rail. She steadied herself through holding on to it, since she was done with her breakfast and her hands were free again.

"You could fall inside the ocean", he explained with a voice cold as ice and stared down on her through narrowed eyes covered by his own shadow, since the sun was shining in his back.

"Is that a warning or a declaration", she asked implying that he wanted to push her. The way he was looking at her, she was almost certain, that he really wanted to, but his orders were stopping him.

He let out a breath and leaned at the rail right beside her using the shadow of the main mast to cover his eyes from the sun shining at them, "why are you here?"

Emma frowned. She didn't know what Hook had told his men. Had he told them anything at all or had he just stated that she would be joining them now?

"What did Hook tell you", she asked carefully and watched him. She was surprised that he was talking with her without threatening her. Nevertheless she perfectly knew that he still hated her and that he whished her to disappear. He was still seeing a thread in her.

"He said the two of you had a deal", he answered, "and that you would help him to achieve his goal of killing Rumpelstiltskin. But he didn't tell us what you would get through this."

She looked at Hook who was watching them now. He was standing at the helm talking with Smee, but whatever it was his first mate was telling him, he didn't listen to him, but concentrated on them instead.

"Why do you ask", Emma asked Base as Hook looked away again, like he had caught himself doing something he had refused himself to do.

"I just want to know why a killer like you would join us."

Emma snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Base as if he had slapped her in the face, "I'm not a murderer. I'm a bounty hunter."

Base skeptically raised an eyebrow, "oh and delivering men to others who kill them, is so much better than killing them yourself? Are you honestly trying to tell me, that you have never killed someone to deliver him? Do you really believe you weren't responsible for their deaths if you catch and hand them to the guards who do your dirty work?"

Anger boiled in her veins and sped up the beat of her heart until she could hear her pulse in her ears as loud as drum beats. She frowned, "yes, since they are so innocent with a bounty on their heads."

Base sighed and looked at his hands that were lying in his lap. He was upset, because he knew she had point there. He knew she was right, that they weren't talking of innocent people but mostly about guys who had killed several people when they had fallen into a town or entered a ship. Pirates, who had raped helpless women, killed their families and had taken everything, because they wanted to have it.

She knew that every pirate was like that. But most of the men with a bounty on their heads were. She had seen those things herself, when Blackbeard had attacked the town back then as Graham had died. He couldn't fool her.

But she had to admit that Hook's pirates were different, somehow.

"Trouble in paradise", Base suddenly asked amused. As she looked up to him confused, she noticed that he was looking at his captain.

She didn't answer him. Things like "there is nothing like that" and "I don't know what you mean" would just amuse him and he wouldn't believe her anyway. Furthermore she didn't want to defend herself and reacting to that question would be nothing else. If men didn't need to defend themselves for doing what they wanted, she didn't neither. Moreover they weren't in a relationship that required any excuses from her side.

When he noticed she wouldn't answer him, he continued enjoying the whole situation a little too much for her taste, "did he tell you, why he hunts for Rumpelstiltskin?"

"No", she answered and left out the fact that she believed to know it anyway, "why don't you tell me?"

Base grinned evilly, "seems like he doesn't trust you, either."

"Are you trying to provoke me", she asked curiously and looked at him like she was studying him, "isn't it frustrating that you can't attack me without breaking your commands? Must indeed by pretty shit to have to see me everyday on board without being able to punch me."

"Base", Hook's voice suddenly interrupted them just as the pirate stood up to threaten her again. He didn't need to say anything more. Base stepped back without leaving her out of his sight, before he turned on his heels and walked up to his captain.

Emma watched them for a moment, seeing that Hook was scolding him and noticing the angry glares he threw at her, because he perfectly knew that she wasn't innocent as well, but he couldn't do anything to scold her and he knew that.

She looked away and watched Blake and Blackpool joking and laughing, while the elder pirate tried to teach the younger one to use is knife. They looked like kids training to throw stones, so they would jump across the water. But they didn't throw the knife.

She grinned as she noticed how clumsy Blake was. He definitely wasn't a pirate.

"Was that really necessary", Hook asked stepping in front of her and blockading her few on the pirates.

She looked up to him. So he was finally talking with her again. Well, arguing with him was better than this stupid silence between them which she couldn't understand at all.

"What?"

He glared at her and she could easily understand what he meant. He was angry because she was pretending to be innocent like sheep and he was upset because she had provoked Base again. She had done it a lot ever since she had come on board the Jolly Roger, but she had never started it.

She sighed, "I didn't start it."

"Does that change anything", he asked and sighed, sitting down next to her just like Base had done it before. He seemed to be frustrated, "if you were one of my men I'd let you scrap the deck now."

Emma chuckled, "just good I'm not following your orders."

He let out a frustrated breath like he was regretting something. She had the bad feeling it was about her. She didn't like it. Suddenly she felt guilty. She was sorry for him.

"Come on. You can't expect me to swallow everything he throws at me", she said seriously and silently.

Hook looked at her again and stated just as silently, "but I can expect you not to bring up my crew against me."

She frowned in confusion, "but I'm having the problems with them, not you and they know that. They are fine with you."

"But I'm defending you against them the whole time", he stated, "and nothing changes."

She understood what he was saying. Through her behavior she was forcing him to pick a side, even though he was sitting between the chairs. And even if he wouldn't choose one, his men would still believe he was on hers, since he couldn't punish her.

Emma shrugged, "fine. I'll be nice."

Hook grinned at her, "you can do that?"

"Hey", she pushed her shoulder against his and he chuckled.

"You know what? You have a problem with distinguishing picking a fight from teasing, Love", he sad seriously again all of a sudden.

"Excuse me."

"Yes, your always locking yourself up, before anyone can get close to you."

She didn't look at him. She didn't want to hear that. But he continued anyway, "you know why Blackpool opened up with you in that tavern before we set sail."

He waited for her answer, but as he noticed she wasn't even looking him, he continued, "because you tried to open up. You cared. You weren't indifferent when the bartender wasn't fair to you. And that reminded him of himself and maybe every other pirate on this ship."

"I'm not a pirate", she stated in a whisper.

"And still you are just like us", he said softly.

That sentence was bitter on her tongue. She didn't like to be compared to pirates. It wasn't fair. She had never killed innocent people, she had never hurt women and their children and she had never hurt anyone if she had taken something from them, if she had stolen from them.

Hook seemed to guess her thoughts, "look, all of these men here have been treated just as unfair as the bartender treated you. They didn't choose this live. Most of them, if not all of them have been forced to live like that."

She looked at him curiously and surprised.

He nodded at Blake, who was still practicing with Blackpool, "Blake for example. His father was a blacksmith and he was supposed to inherit his forge, because he was the eldest son, but he didn't want to", he chuckled, "he wanted to cook. So he left his family and his home and tried to survive on his own."

"What happened then", she asked in a whisper and watched the young pirate. It was like Hook was telling her a tale.

"He was caught by mercenaries. They wanted to sell him", he continued, "we entered their ship and offered him to stay."

Emma looked at him, "and what about you?"

He looked away, "that's not important. What I'm trying to say is: just because you've met Blackbeard's crew before, that doesn't mean every pirate is like that."

"No?"

Hook finally looked at her again, "I don't know what happened back then, but I can assure you, I'd never allow a man on board of my ship, who'd do something Blackbeard's men do."

It was hard to imagine. How should that even be possible? He couldn't know every man just by seeing him. He couldn't know what a man would do and what not if he'd see him for the first time. He needed to know them, to spent time with them and how else should he do that, but by allowing them to join his crew?

"I'm pretty good at knowing people, Swan", he answered all her questions just as if he had read her thoughts, proving his own statement with it. When he was looking at her now, his glance was quite intense. It felt like he was not just telling her that he could understand people, but that he understood her even though he knew nothing about her. Combined with his glance, it was like he was looking right through her and unlike in the morning, she felt strange, confused and scared because he was way too close to her, even though he was just sitting next to her.

She looked away and took a breath, since she had totally forgotten to breathe for a moment, before she decided to change the subject. She needed far more safer ground, "what's up with Smee?"

"What should be with him", he asked back. When she looked at him again, she noticed that he didn't look at her anymore. He was frowning at the planks beneath his feet just as if he was confused about something.

"You were talking with him earlier", she tried to catch his attention again, "I thought he had a problem."

"He couldn't understand why we changed our plans", he said and his frown disappeared as he finally concentrated on their conversation again, even though he didn't look at her once more, "I told him to take care of the Jolly Roger and the remaining crew as soon as we'll leave."

"Have you ever been at that castle before", Emma asked curiously, "do you know it?"

Hook was silent for a long moment and stared forward as if he was frozen or shocked or something. His thoughts were far away and she couldn't tell, if he was just thinking of something else that was troubling him or if he was remembering something that had been over for a very long time now.

His jaw tensed as he finally answered her, "I don't know that castle." He stood up and left her alone in confusion.

* * *

"Is that close enough for you?"

It was disgusting. The huge creatures in front of them smelled like a cesspool. They were dirty and barely dressed. The skins were pale and full of scratches and smaller injuries where people had tried to fight them, giving their best to save their families' lives.

"I think yes", she said just as arrogant as always even though there was a small voice in the back of her mind, telling her that she had never fought an ogre before. But her magic would be able to destroy them. She knew it.

After all Rumpelstiltskin had fought ogres before as well or he wouldn't have met Belle, would he? And if he was able to do something like that, she should be able to do it as well.

She stood up and Robin, who was with her, jumped to his feet staring at her like she was insane, "what are you doing?"

Regina looked at him in confusion, "what I'm here for."

She stepped out of the bushes like a queen and left her only disguise behind. She revealed herself to the ogres like a sheep standing on an open field in front of hungry wolves. But she didn't care, because hiding had never belonged to her capabilities anyway.

She was glad that she could finally do something instead of sitting around and waiting, grieving for her loss of Henry and doing nothing at all. This was more to her liking. Now she would be able to fight, to use her strength and to let out her anger and pain. Now she would be able to hurt someone and it would help her to cope with all her problems for at least a while.

The ogres noticed her as soon as she left the bushes behind and created a fireball lying in her hand like a child's ball. She didn't wait for them to run up to her, so she would be able to smell their disgusting breaths, since their incredibly loud screams were already bad enough and threw her fireball at them.

It crashed into something invisible and burst setting the ground in front of them on fire and keeping them at bay. All except for one, that seemed to be stronger and hungrier than all the others and tested its chances to get through the fire.

Regina stepped back starring at the fire. She couldn't believe it. How was that possible? There had to be magic involved. But who would protect ogres? And why would someone do that?

The ogre came closer, after it had finally made its way through the fire that slowly died out. Soon the rest of them would be able to get through either. But she didn't notice it. She was too confused and shocked to even care.

An arrow shot past her aiming for the ogres' eyes and killing it. It fell right to her feet the moment Robin pulled her back. Thanks to his safe hand she was still alive. He pulled her back into and through the forest, "what was that?"

She didn't answer him, but as she heard his voice she snapped out of her thoughts and finally started to concentrate on running through the forest to get away from the ogres.

Robin suddenly stopped and stared back and since he was still holding on to her, she had to stop as well, "why aren't they following us? The fire is out."

"I don't know."

He turned to look at her, "what happened there?"

"I don't know."

He placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to force her to finally look at him, "why didn't it work?"

"Bloody hell, I don't know", she snapped at him and freed herself form his grip, before she stepped back, placing a hand on her stomach. She walked up and down in front of him, "there was a barrier, but that doesn't make any sense."

Robin just stood there and watched her thinking out loud. He had never seen her like this. And he would have never had expected to see her like this, knowing she was the Evil Queen, who usually threatened everyone around her. It was like he was watching a giant trying to sneak into a mouse's hole. Despite that, he tried to help her, "why not?"

"Ogres can't use magic", she stated, "they're too stupid."

"So someone has to have helped them."

She turned around to him, "of course, what else? But who would do something like that? It doesn't make sense."

"To hurt people and make sure there is no way to stop them?"

"In that case the ogres would have been locked in the middle of a town or at least with their victims together", she stated, "but they are locked right at the edge of the mountains. There was just one village nothing more."

"And why are they locked?"

"Because such a wand has to be anchored somewhere solid. It can't be moved", she explained and suddenly stopped walking up and down. She became very silent and stared at a tree trunk right beside him.

Robin frowned, "and that wand is the reason they didn't follow us? Am I right?"

She didn't say anything. She just kept starring at the tree trunk.

"Majesty?"

Silence. He walked up to her slowly and reached for her shoulder. He didn't know why he believed it to work, but he said it anyway, "Regina?"

She snapped out of it and looked at him like he had pushed a trigger. She focused on him for a moment recognizing him and feeling strange through hearing her name out of his mouth, before she stated a little surprised of her reaction to it, "this wasn't a real attack. Someone did this to distract us."

They exchanged a glance and she could almost see the next question popping up in his mind. His brown eyes were like portals to his soul and his mind and somehow she was perfectly able to look right through it. But she didn't give him the chance to ask anything anymore.

She ran back to the place where she had tried to fry the ogres not even trying to be silent anymore. She didn't need to look back to know that Robin was following her, even though she couldn't hear his steps through the noise of her own. He was good at what he was doing. The arrow he had shot at the ogre before, had barely missed her head and still it had hit the right place to kill it.

"Regina, what are you doing", he shouted after her, believing in what she had just told him about the ogres not being able to come into the forest, "why are you going back?"

"Come on", she just stated before she stumbled out of the forest and stopped right in front of the huge beasts. She stared at them with an open mouth.

Robin stopped right beside her and looked at her, "don't you think that was a little unfair? We're working here as partners. How am I supposed to protect and help you, if you don't tell me, what you are planning?" As he noticed that she was starring at the ogres and didn't pay attention to him once again, he frowned and looked at them as well, "what's wrong?"

Regina swallowed hard, "where is the ogre you shot?"

He looked around, but he couldn't find it, not even somewhere behind the others, "but how is that possible?"

Regina calmed down and turned to him businesslike, "there were four ogres, when you shot it. And now there are four again."

"What does that mean?"

"That means someone is playing around with us", she explained almost furious, "there have never been any ogres and this is not a wand."

Robin walked up to her, "but what does that mean? If there is no wand why did your fireball burst?"

"Because you can't fight a spell with a fireball", she explained and walked up to the ogres, "my fireball bounced off the magic of the illusion that's placed here. You can't fight something that doesn't exist for real."

Robin followed her slowly, "but my arrow-"

"Became part of it as soon as it hit the barrier. There never was an ogre that died here. It was just an illusion. The one who died is already part of the group again", she answered his question before he could spell it out completely, "whoever did this is just playing around with us. The question is what shall we be distracted of?"

"Prince Henry", Robin stated and walked up to her, "this wasn't about ogres or angering anyone, but about you."

Regina stared at him, "what?" Was he against her now as well? Did he believe she was the on being at fault for all of this? Why else would he believe this nonsense was about her? She didn't want to admit it, but if she was honest, then she was hurt.

The Blue Fairy, the dwarfs and everyone else at that round table usually blamed her for everything that went wrong and always thought the source of their problems at her first of anything else. She had believed she had gotten used to it and she even could understand where this was coming from. But now that Robin seemed to do the same she had to notice that she actually did have a problem with it. It was hurting her.

"Whoever did this had to be counting on you teaming up with us and taking care of the problem instead of sitting around in a castle. Someone wanted you to be distracted for something they would want to do or of searching Henry."

Sitting around in a castle? She hardly did something like that. What he had mentioned was more Snow White's style at the moment.

Regina let out a breath, before she took his hand and turned. Dark and purple smoke appeared in front of them and brought them to her castle. So he didn't blame her for it? That was good to know. She felt like a stone was falling from her chest and she could breathe more freely again.

Even though she had been against him working with them to find Henry before she had to admit that she had had been wrong about it. She could be glad that he was with her and she was relieved that she had found someone in this mess, she might be able to relay on.

Robin coughed heavily as they arrived back at the castle almost the same moment they had disappeared in the forest. He must have breathed in some of the smoke because he had opened his mouth the moment they had disappeared.

She waited for him to calm down again pushing his back in order to help him, "are you alright?"

He cleared his throat and took a look around, "are we?"

"Back in my Snow White's castle? No. This is mine", she walked past him and allowed him to follow her.

"What about the ogres", he asked from behind her and looked at everything he could see and notice on the way, "what did you do about them?"

"Nothing", she pushed open the doors that lead to her most favorite room and walked up to the sideboard with her poisons and vials, that was standing at the wall right across the passage to her beloved apple tree. Well, at least it had been like that once. She wasn't as proud of it anymore as she had been in the past and she hadn't used it for a long time now.

He hurried up and stopped in front of her separating her from the ingredients she wanted to use, "you didn't do anything about them? Why?"

Regina sighed. She found she could like him. He was handsome despite all this forest stuff you could notice at him and he wasn't blaming her as fast as others usually did. He tried to make his own opinion about her, even though he had already heard plenty of stories about her and she highly appreciated that.

"Because they can't hurt anyone anyway. They definitely are just something like a picture projected into the air."

Robin frowned, "what about the people who died in that village it's close to?"

"Whoever did this must have killed them", she stated silently, "and I don't want that someone to know what we know or how much we know. I don't want to warn him."

He looked straight into her eyes, "do you think it could be Rumpelstiltskin?"

Regina shrugged, "I don't know who it could be. Rumpelstiltskin and my mother both would be perfectly able to do that. But to be honest, it doesn't look like something Rumpelstiltskin would do."

"So you think it is your mother", he guessed according to her words. There was something in his expression as he mentioned her she couldn't understand right away. Was it something like compassion? Was he actually feeling sorry for her and the situation she was in? Or was she just interpreting things into his reaction that weren't there at all?

Regina didn't ask him about it. She softly shoved him aside so she could concentrate on her task freely again, feeling his eyes in her back watching her. She had an idea but they'd need to hurry up or it wouldn't work anymore. She couldn't allow the track to turn cold if there actually was one.

"And what are you doing now", Robin asked to her right and looked at her hands mixing things up in a vial.

"I'm trying to track down who ever is hiding behind all this", she explained, "I'm sick of being pushed around while someone is leaning back and laughing about me."

"Shouldn't we tell Charming and Snow?"

"Later", she said and placed a finger on the hole of the vial so there couldn't come something out when she shook it, "we don't have time to tell them yet. We need to get back there fast."

Robin watched her for a long moment, noticing her experienced movements, "isn't that a lot to remember? I mean, the spells and mixtures and that stuff is quite much, isn't it?"

She turned around to him and thought about it for a second. The vial was filled and the liquid was filling it up entirely. All they needed to do now was to get back to the wrong ogres, "I guess, it was in the beginning. But the more often you use all that the easier it becomes. I think you can compare it to botany and using bow and arrow. The more often you do it, the less toxic plants end up in your basket and the more often you use bow and arrow the more often you actually shoot what you're aiming for."

She held out her hand to him, offering him to take it and waited for his reaction nervously. She hadn't done something like that in years and it felt strange to suddenly do it. She was nervous.

But he took her hand and they disappeared to the mountain's edge again. She used her liquid, but the track had already vanished, if there had even ever been one. It was disappointing.

* * *

In the meantime:

"Why can't we just knock them out?"

"Sch."

Two guards walked by right above their heads and dirt rained down on them from between the planks of the bridge they were hiding underneath. The men were chatting about how much they wished to be at the tavern now, where they could flirt with a woman called Ruby, who hadn't been around very often lately, instead of guarding this entrance to the castle. When they walked back inside the protecting exterior wall and took the lantern with them, Emma and the pirates were sitting in the dark again.

"I wouldn't need to ask all the time if you would just tell me", she whispered and waited for both his answer and his sing to hurry inside.

They had reached this realm early in the morning but they hadn't landed at any harbor near the castle. Instead of that, Hook had decided to make use of the look of the Jolly Roger, for what she could be easily mistaken as a merchant's ship and they had anchored where they could be seen from the castle. Using a dinghy they had reached a small street that lead right through the water and was the only thing separating the castle and their ship. Base and two other men of Hook's crew had carried the dinghy across it and they had taken the route across the water to the small side entrance the fishermen living in the town behind the exterior walls surrounding the castle were using every morning to get on the water and throw out their nets. It had taken them a while to find that entrance that lead from the castle to a small island across a bridge. Underneath that bridge they were sitting in her boat now.

"We can't risk to be noticed", he answered her like it should be obvious. But she wasn't satisfied with that answer even one bit. She had broken into houses and castles before, too, and so she knew what she was talking about.

"Which is why we should knock them out", she insisted, "like that they won't be able to notice us."

"Before we can knock them out, we need to make sure they won't swift for the night anytime soon or we'll be noticed", he explained and signed them all to be silent, as the guards came back once more.

They were still talking about this woman, but this time they actually mentioned how bad it was, that they wouldn't be superseded for the night, which was exactly what they needed to know according to Hook.

The captain nodded at his sailors, who slowly climbed out of their boat into the water, so the water wouldn't make too much noise and climbed the rocks underneath the small bridge. Emma could see them hiding to both sides of the entrance behind a part of the wall that boarded it, waiting for the soldiers to come back, from her position underneath the bridge. When the soldiers reached the entrance again, the pirates vanished from her view and a short moment after that, they could hear a fight and something that sounded like some of the men were grunting.

Hook climbed out of the boat on a rock and held on to the boat, so Emma could get out without getting wet as well. They couldn't need to leave tracks like puddles or footprints of water, if they didn't want to be noticed. They climbed up to Base and the other two, who were already changing cloths with the soldiers to take their places and pretend to be them.

Hook walked up to them immediately, Emma following him on his heels, "the two of you stay here and overtake their shift. Make certain this way stays free for us to get away again and don't be recognized doing it." His eyes wandered to the unconscious men, they had hidden in the corner they had been waiting at, before they had attacked them, "oh, and make certain they won't wake up."

Emma stared at him. Hadn't he told her just one day ago that he wasn't like Blackbeard and his men? That he wouldn't allow something like this to happen? Sure he hadn't told them to kill them, but he hadn't told them not to, either. And his order could easily be laid out as killing them.

Emma cleared her throat.

"But don't kill them", he added and walked past them. Emma followed him relieved that he had understood her and appreciated her opinion. Base on the other hand, seemed to be confused. He was frowning as he stepped into Hook's way and stopped him once more. She couldn't understand if he was confused because Hook had ordered them not to kill the men or because there usually was no reason to do so, because Hook's words were true.

"Sir", the pirate whispered, "what about me?"

"It'll be too conspicuous to sneak inside threesome", Hook stated and looked back at Emma for a short moment, before he ordered, "stay here. Take care of the boat. Make sure we can reach it more easily than now, just in case we need to escape."

Base glared at her and his voice became even more silent, "are you certain, Sir?"

Hook didn't even look at her to know what he was referring to. He knew just like her that Base was assuming she could betray him, if not, even kill. It was an open secret that the pirate hated her after all. Hook's voice was strong but didn't sound like he was blaming or scolding him for both assuming something like that and questioning his orders. He knew he was just concerned, "just do as your told."

"Aye, Sir", Base saluted and walked past them back to the boat. He seemed to be disappointed of his task, but just as he had told Emma before, he was loyal to his captain and followed his orders without a real contradiction.

"Ready", Hook asked from her left as she watched Base leave them. Once more he seemed to read her thoughts, "he is just worried for me."

Emma looked at him, "I don't blame him."

She walked past him and ignored the surprised glance he was focusing on her with now. Soon he was by her side as they hid behind a column that was carrying the path on the wall above the door for the fishermen.

Even though it was already late and the day was dark, there were still a lot of people outside their houses. Especially at the two taverns that were crowded by men and women to both sides of the place in front of the way up to the inner wall where the actual castle was. The way they had to take.

"Does that mean you're worried for me", Hook asked curiously tying on to their previous conversation and leaned into her, so he wouldn't be noticed hiding there with her by anyone. He wasn't as close as she could feel his breath on her lips, but close enough to invade her personal space.

Emma looked right into his face so he couldn't even imagine she was lying to him, while he secretly watched the people at the taverns and the main place, "that means, Base distrusts me. It's just natural for him to assume, I'd try to kill you. That's, what I can't blame him for."

Hook chuckled, "and still I believe you care for me. Is it my looks or my charms?" He seemed to enjoy this more than he should, what made him look younger than he actually was, as he took her hand and pulled her behind another column and another one until they reached an empty carriage that stood in a corner beside the way up to the main castle. It was surrounded by straw lying on the stony ground. Until here, they'd made it in complete darkness and unnoticed.

Emma peered around the low wall at the way up, she was leaning at and rushed around it just when someone rode down the small street right towards her. She stumbled back without turning, until Hook grabbed her waist and pulled her back against his chest into the shadows. He kept holding on to her as they heard the horseman passing by right behind them.

Emma let out a breath, "that was close."

"Indeed", Hook whispered into her right ear, without letting go of her. He was leaning at the wall that had hidden them and seemed just as relieved as her.

She looked down on his hand and the hook he had pinned into one of her belt loops and cleared her throat, "then you can let go of me again."

He pulled back from her waist as soon as she had finished her sentence and she stepped forward to bring space between them. This would be terrible, she was already certain about it.


	9. I love when a plan comes together

9. I love it when a plan comes together

She had been right. It really was terrible. Even though they had made it into the castle easily after their little trouble at the entrance and even though they had spared the lower rooms where the servants usually were staying at, they still hadn't found the right room yet. This castle had plenty of rooms and yet they still could find rooms for servants and maidens depending on what part of the castle they were searching through.

"What now", Emma asked after they had taken a look into the twentieth room by now, "do you want to take a peek in every room? The boy could be twenty until we'd find him."

Instead of answering her, Hook took her hand and pulled her into the next room, closing the door just in time, when someone walked down the hall passing the room they were hiding at without noticing them. They were lucky that this was a room they had already checked so they knew there was nobody in here and that whoever had passed their door hadn't decided to enter the room. They exchanged a glance and waited for another moment to make sure they were alone, so nobody would notice if they were moving something in here or heard them talking.

"Are you going to argue with me the entire time now", Hook whispered and walked up to the door to take a look outside.

"Not unless you-"

"Sch", he signed her to follow her outside again. The entered the last room at the end of the hall and Hook closed the door behind them carefully. Then he turned around to her, "what was it you wanted to say?"

"I'll stop arguing, if you finally share your plans with me like we've agreed on in our deal", she paused, took a look around and frowned when she noticed the furniture that once again didn't look like it belonged into a child's room at all, "that means if you do have a plan at all."

Hook, who had walked up to a wardrobe, stopped searching through it, sighed heavily and turned around to look at her, "I already told you, that we check the boy's room to find tracks, didn't I?"

"Yes, but does this look like a boy's room to you", Emma asked skeptically and leaned back at the door her hands shoved into the pockets of her cloak.

He took a look around and grinned, "bloody hell."

She rolled her eyes, "that's not funny."

"Right, it isn't", he said still grinning at her, "that bloody curse that stops me from finding Rumpelstiltskin seems to influence me more than I thought."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. He wanted to joke around now? Seriously? Fine, "if this curse is influencing you so badly I'm wondering how you were even able to find me at that harbor."

"Smee did", he grinned and turned around to the wardrobe again.

Emma walked up to him and opened the second door of the wardrobe he was searching through, "well, in that case we should have made lifting your curse part of our deal with Regina."

Hook stopped in his movements and almost smiled as he turned to look at her in surprise, "our deal?" Never would he have expected her to include herself into this like that. And he was surprised to notice he actually liked it. It was like they really were a team now instead of just saying so and it felt good not to have to fight all alone. Maybe he had been alone for a way too long time by now? Sure there had been his men, but that wasn't the same just like sharing the bed with a wench wasn't the same to...

He frowned. What was he even thinking? When had he become that sentimental? He wasn't lonely and when he was, the presence and softness of a wench's hug was support enough to erase it. He was Captain Hook after all. He didn't care for sentimentalities. His demise was do or dare and nothing else. If he wanted something, he took it. If he wanted to kill someone, he did it. He wasn't a fool, he was a man! That she was including herself now was surprising and entertaining. Nothing else.

But still… The Swan-girl was doing something with her weather she noticed it or not. And he wasn't certain where this would take them. Ever since their little conversation in his cabin about changing their plans a while ago, he had noticed it and he had taken the consequences of it. He had stepped back, had avoided to be alone with her if not inevitably necessary for example at night, when they shared his cabin.

At that day he had realized that there might be just two options of where this could take them, if they'd be stuck close to each other like they had been during their travel so far. First, they'd inevitably end up in bed together, enjoying their time until she would feel like she was treated like a wench and it would turn against them. And second, they'd stop to be as close to each other as they were and keep a mutual distance to each other, treating each other like real partners. He had chosen the second option, since the first one would destroy their teamwork.

"Well, if I ever want to achieve my goal with your help, then I have to make sure that you'll be able to help me at all", she explained and closed the door to the wardrobe again, "which means I have to team up with you in this as well. So, yes. It is our deal. So how on earth are you planning to go on now instead of running around like a lost puppy?"

"Excuse me", he asked and his mood dropped as he heard the phrase "lost puppy". He came closer until she had to lean back against the wardrobe so he wouldn't crush into her, placed a hand to her right, "a lost what?"

Emma sighed unimpressed, "do we really need to discuss this now?"

He placed his hook to her left and looked straight into her eyes, "if you're questioning my capabilities as a man now, indeed."

"Fine", she shrugged and became sarcastic, "so I'll rephrase it. How does the great and incredible captain Hook plan to go on now?"

He chuckled and the tip of his hook sank into a shabby part of one of her doors in her back, "you're not even slightly impressed, are you?"

Emma pretended to be dumb, "of what?"

He looked unashamedly and lazily at her lips like it was the most natural thing for him to do. Her lips felt like they were burning and now she really noticed that she was getting close to her limits. The tough Emma winced back afraid of being confronted with something she wasn't able to handle while the Emma hiding behind her and her walls watched her walls trembling in fear. The problem was, this time she couldn't simply step back or avoid him. He had caught her and she felt like an animal waiting to be shot. She didn't like it.

Before he could answer her or do anything more, a woman talking in front of the door interrupted them, "I'll just get my cloak. Wait here. I'll be back in a minute."

They exchanged a short surprised glance.

"Are you sure you can go", another woman asked worried.

"Don't worry, Sophie", the first woman answered and opened the door, "with prince Henry missing, there is hardly anything I can do. And the little Roland is already sleeping. The Queen said it was fine."

The woman entered the room and walked up to a small sideboard standing in front of a mirror. She brushed her hair and bound it up again. Then she walked up to the wardrobe.

Hook pulled Emma even closer and they both held their breaths, as she opened one of the two doors, got her cloak out and put it on, before she checked herself in the mirror for a while.

Hook was closer to her than she liked it. As soon as they had heard the woman talking in front of the door, they had jumped inside this bloody cabinet. It had been the best and fastest decision they had been able to make, until they had understood that this was exactly the place she wanted to go.

As soon as the woman had started to take care of her hair, Hook had pulled her onto his side of the wardrobe noticing that she was standing right in front of the cloak she wanted. He had seen her binding up her hair through the little hole he had made with his hook before. And ever since that moment they were pressed together like sardines in vet.

His hand was lying on her hip, while he tried not to hurt her with his hook. His breath caressed her cheek while she tried to push herself off his chest to create at least a little more space between them, while she felt his heartbeat underneath her right hand. It didn't change much. She could still feel his presence against her chest and she had to try hard not to hit him between his legs.

Emma looked up to him questioningly, hoping they could leave the cabinet soon, but he only shook his head to tell her that the woman he was watching through the small hole was still in the room. Emma let out a breath and focused on the dresses behind his back. He definitely was way too close.

From her strange posture her arms and legs were aching and she tried to ignore a coat hook that was nailed in the door from the inside and stitched into her back. She could have easily changed something about it, if she just would have leaned against him, but she didn't want to come any closer to him, than she already was. His smell of rum, man and sea reached her nose and gave her the feeling to be even closer to him than she was. She didn't have a problem with his smell, but it was just too much. Being close to him like that, the smell of his body and the leather of his cloths, the sensation of his breath against her cheek and the warmth of his body against hers in addition to his heartbeat under her hand, was making her walls shake more than ever before. And she didn't like that she didn't have a problem with his smell.

To her surprise Hook pulled her even closer despite her attempts to create space between them, so her arms bend and she really was pressed against him completely, as he shoved his hand between her back and the court hook in her back to help her to ease the pain, even though she hadn't said anything about it. She hadn't even changed her expression so he could have noticed something. And along with her changed posture the pain in her arms and legs eased as well.

She looked at him in surprise out of a corner of her eye since she didn't want to turn her face to him, because she would have to brush across his lips, if she did. He simply grinned and shrugged with his right shoulder, so he wouldn't hit her chin, like he couldn't help it.

Emma focused on the dresses behind his back again, so they wouldn't have one of their silent conversations through eye contact in this situation, like it had been the case in the past few days for several times. Though she had already caught a climbs of what he wanted to tell her anyway and she didn't like it at all. She could perfectly imagine that he had no problem with this situation or that he even liked it. But she didn't want to find out for what reason. She snorted annoyed and was even more upset, when she noticed how her chest was moving against his in the process. At least she wasn't naïve enough anymore to turn red.

His heartbeat became slightly faster.

Instead of focusing on it or even wondering about the reasons behind it, she lost herself in starring at the maiden's dress behind his back, an idea slowly forming in her head.

She couldn't believe it, but in the end it might even possible that it was good that they had ended up in this wardrobe like this. Maybe even this situation could be good for something in the end, even though she didn't like it. She leaned her chin against his left shoulder and stared at that dress.

"I could get used to this", he suddenly whispered in her ear, his lips brushing across it, his breath warming her skin, and brought her back to the presence, "but I had no idea you'd like it so much." He pronounced the "you" like it really was surprising. Too bad she had no idea what he was talking of at all.

"What", she turned her head in an attempt to look at him but winced back as she remembered how close they were and turned her head away before their lips would touch his neck or anything close to her. She just barely noticed that he dared to whisper to her, even though they weren't alone.

"I don't mind spending more time with you like this but I assume we should find another opportunity, Love", he said holding her in his arms and smiling at her just as if he loved this whole situation with them locked in this wardrobe together.

Emma couldn't believe this. In a moment like this? Seriously? He came up with something like this, when they had to be silent, when she couldn't push him away without catching any attention from the woman outside? Was he really taking advantage of the situation? Hadn't he told her that he wasn't like the usual pirates? But he is still a man, she remembered.

However, she was still disappointed, because somehow with everything he had told her and through everyway he had treated her so far, she had actually believed him to be different than the mere pack of men you could meet at the taverns. She had believed him to be what he always pretended to be: a gentleman. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that he was one, but she had believed him to be more of it than all those other men. And even though she didn't trust him, she even had thought better of him than of her past love. But on the other hand, it hadn't been that difficult.

It was just naturally that she was quite upset when she said with a warning voice, "what the hell are you talking about? Don't you think we should be silent? She could hear us after all."

"And you're dreaming, I see", he said slowly and amused. Before she could let out all her anger on him, he added, "she is long gone, Love."

Even before he had said the last word she pushed open the door and left the wardrobe. She took a deep breath just noticing how thick the air had gotten in there and that she was feeling cold now. But she would never acknowledge to him that she was feeling cold because his warmth was missing now.

Hook smiled charmingly at her, but she didn't buy his sudden affection to her for even once second. She didn't trust him and she knew that he was using his charms like a weapon, so she was certain that all this was just another game for him, if it wasn't even a try to fool her.

"What have you been dreaming about? I guess I've got to doubt it was about me", he said amused and ignored her glare.

She took a deep breath to calm down again. The only other option would have been to kick him.

"Actually I have an idea of how I can check the rooms here without all this trouble."

His expression became serious and she could almost see the curiosity shining through his eyes, "what do you mean with "I can"?"

So he had noticed it. Emma smiled at him and she could almost feel how uneasy he was feeling to see her like this.

* * *

Emma had simply thrown him out not caring about someone possibly showing up and finding him waiting in front of that bedroom door in the middle of the castle's hall where ha shouldn't be at all. He had no idea what she had come up with, but somehow he trusted her that it was a good one. At least he hoped so or they would be wasting their time with this now.

Hook was quite curious, when she finally opened the door and joined him in the hall. She was dressed in one of the maiden's dresses, her hair was pulled up and above the dress she was wearing a white apron. The green color of the dress underlined the color of her eyes. She was beautiful even though she wasn't dressed like a royal but a servant.

She kept pulling at the dress around her waist and didn't seem to like it at all, "why are you starring at me?"

"I", he swallowed hard before he started to talk again, "I'm just impr… surprised, that's all."

He took in her appearance while she stepped nervously from one foot to another and had to admit that dresses of servants weren't revealing enough for his taste. Why hadn't they sneaked into a tavern and had her dress up. A barmaids dress would suit her perfectly for sure.

He would have never imagined her to look like that when he had seen her in her pants and her boots with the cloak hiding every feature of her body. Why had he been holding back again?

"Are you done? We have something better to do than starring at me, standing in the middle of a hall of a castle we've broken into, remember?"

Right. He did. They were partners. That's why he had been holding back. But Swan was so different from the usual women, so maybe she'd be fine with having fun? Something like warming each other at night on the sea? Bloody hell her skin was looking so soft, why shouldn't he find out, if it really was what it looked like? Maybe it was better that she was wearing a servant's dress. That it was hiding so much was almost driving him insane, because he wanted to explore her skin underneath it.

"Hook", she said again, "do I need to knock you out and continue on my own?"

He shook his head and snapped out of it. Bloody hell, just what was going on with him? He had never been that confused about a woman ever since Milah had died. No, even back then it hadn't been like this.

"And what is this huge plan of yours", he asked focusing on their current situation again, even though he already had an idea of what her plan would be.

"I do look like a maiden, don't I?"

Why did she need to bring his attention back to that now that he had finally started to focus again? He resisted the urge to tell her how beautiful she looked like. Instead of that he raised an eyebrow and treated her like she was nuts, "I don't think this will work, Swan."

She stared at him like he had said, what he had actually wanted to say for a moment, but he couldn't understand why. She calmed down quickly, "why not?"

"Have you seen maidens before? You're nothing like that. And besides that I could imagine Snow White and Charming know everyone working for them by name. They aren't like other royals after all."

"Oh, and sneaking from room to room like that for eternity, hiding in wardrobes and running from servants and guards is so much better", she asked skeptically and watched him carefully.

Hook shrugged and smiled charmingly, "well, I don't have problems with those wardrobes."

"We won't even be able to find anything, if we can't search without escaping and hiding all the time", she stated ignoring his words.

"I've brought us here, so I'll find away."

"Now that you mention it: how did you even know that secret way inside?"

Hook took a deep breath. He didn't want to tell her about Graham kidnapping that princess all those years ago. It wasn't of her concern and the less people knew about it the better. He couldn't need anybody to question his connection to the huntsman especially not Regina and Cora. They would team up to kill him despite all their issues with one another, if they'd find out.

"I know it", he stated and his voice sounded like this theme was done now, "just like I know about the servants, Swan. It won't work if they suddenly run into you and don't know who you are. Not to mention the servants. They usually know each other pretty good."

"One could think you really are worried for me", she said like she didn't believe this to be possible at all.

"I need you to find…him…so of course I don't want to loose you here."

She didn't need to know that he really was worried for her and that just because she had impressed him. She had made him curious for her, had made him think things he hadn't thought of for several years now and was confusing him. She was a challenge, since she kept pushing him back in every possible way, while other women usually were open to him. He cared for her, like for one of his mates and he had to admit to himself that he was interested in her sexually as well. It was refreshing to have her around. At the same time it was dangerous to be close to her, because he felt deep in his heart that she could change everything. He just didn't know weather to the better or the worse. He was attracted to her and at the same time he felt repelled by her. What was thrilling about this was that she didn't now any of this, which was telling a lot about her. If she would have known it, he could have at least been able to blame her for it. Hell, he couldn't even be honest with himself if it was about her, he knew that. But he wouldn't start to be now.

Emma rolled her eyes like she didn't care and put up a package that looked like a bag of laundry, "fine. I'll try my luck. See you later. Take this with you."

He frowned as she shoved the package into his arms, "what is that?"

"Something you better won't lose", she warned him, "or I could decide our contract is broken."

"Why don't you carry it along?"

"Nobody will ever believe me, that I'm doing laundry at this time of the day."

He could almost imagine what was inside there, if she reacted like this to him. It was her cloths and he could understand that it definitely was important. Maybe he'd just do her the favor.

"See you later", she repeated and walked away.

Hook stared at her. It was like he hadn't said anything at all. He followed her a few steps as she threatened to leave him behind and stopped her with his hand on her left arm, "wait. Why are we separating now?"

She looked over her shoulder, "I can hardly run around here with a pirate on my heels, can I? Just wait here. I'll be back in some minutes."

He watched her walking down the hall, leaving him behind like a stray dog. He wouldn't wait here. It just wasn't like him to stay back and wait until others were done with the action. It had never been. He waited until she was gone, just to make sure she suddenly wouldn't change her mind, before he went into the opposite direction. It was clear she definitely wouldn't change her mind again, now that she really had left him behind. She wasn't like any other woman he had ever met. She was stubborn, she didn't listen, she was reckless and she believed to know everything better. She loved to do things her own way and was already influencing him with that after just maybe one week being around her. But she was tough, skilled, a real beauty even though she was hiding it really well, she was smart, she might be the first woman he really could acknowledge ever after Milah's death and somehow she got right under his skin. He wasn't sure if he really liked that, but it definitely was something to appreciate.

Hook tried to remember what Graham had told him about the princess' kidnapping all those years ago and walked into the direction he believed to be right according to that story. Maybe her plan would help him in the end. If she'd be noticed by anyone she would draw everyone's attention so he could be able to search around freely for a while. And he was certain she'd be noticed since the people were more careful ever since the prince had been taken.

When they had entered the castle he had already be worried about how they should find the boy's room without anybody noticing, since his parents would be sticking around there grieving for him for sure. He had come up with the idea to split up, but he had thought, she wouldn't agree to that. So he had started to search through unimportant rooms, hoping she would be annoyed of him and would decide to split herself. Then she could have been the perfect distraction and he could have made it up to the royals' chambers easily. Never would he have believed it to turn out like this. She was surprising. He liked it, even though he really could see the risk in her plan. When he had warned her, he had been serious. She was putting herself into danger with this idea, but she was more than capable of taking care of herself, so he didn't run after her but followed his memories of what Graham had told him about the castle back then, when he had been entrusted with kidnapping a princess all those years ago.

Her package he carried along, because he felt like he owed it to her for manipulating her like that, even though in the end she had been as positive and full of her idea, that he wasn't even certain he had manipulated her into it at all.

Hook hide behind a corner and checked if he could continue his way without anybody noticing him and envied her for her disguise even though it wouldn't be of help for long. Servants usually knew everything that was going on in a castle, so they knew if there had been someone employed lately or not. Maybe she would be able to fool the male servants with her beauty, but not the women.

She really had been gorgeous in that dress. Too bad he might never see her like that again. He looked at his hand he had used to pull her closer back in that cabinet. Maybe it was good she wasn't always looking like that. It made it easier to focus on the important things.

He stopped himself from thinking about her and focused on his way before he could start to wonder what would have happened if she would have been dressed like that in that bloody wardrobe. He stopped, before he could imagine things he shouldn't be imagining, things she would hate him for as soon as she'd find out about them. This wasn't the time. She wasn't the right person for this. They were a team. He mustn't think about it.

Not now, not with her!

Maybe.

* * *

Obviously it was already quite late, since she barely met any servants or guests of the royal family on her way through the castle. There had only been guards walking around in the halls but they didn't pay any attention to her. Maybe because of the dress she was wearing? Or because of the tray with wine and water she had taken out of a salon and kept carrying along as a cover? Maybe both.

It was just when a servant suddenly asked her who she was that a guard would focus on her until she'd say, "I'm new. I've been employed just this morning." Then they would relax again believing it like there wasn't even a single person in the world who would dare to lie in Snow White's and Charming's castle or even their whole realm. It was almost frustrating who trustful they were after their prince had been taken out of his bed.

Yes, He had disappeared out of his bed. She had heard about it from the servants. They proofed to be the best source of information even though she had to select between truth and gossip. She had learned that his foster-mother, Hillary, had noticed his disappear first. Now she was taking care of a boy named Roland who was the son of the famous Robin Hood, who had volunteered to help search for the prince. Snow White, who had avoided that boy before, seemed to love him and evil tongues even said that she used him to replace her missing son.

Some said Prince Henry had disappeared out of his bed, others that it happened while practicing shooting or while walking around in the castle and others believed that he had disappeared while playing in the gardens. Everything was possible except the theory of Henry being taken right out of his mother's tender hug.

After everything she had heard now she wanted to check the theory with his bedroom first. It seemed to be the best one since there would have been someone who would have noticed his disappear if it would have happened outside the moment it happened. An eleven year old prince usually wasn't on his own in the gardens or even practicing anything. In his bed sleeping or at least trying to on the other hand seemed quite possible.

Emma made her way through the corridors and passed the door to the room where the Queen, her husband, the dwarfs, fairies, the werewolf Ruby and her grandmother and Jiminy Cricket were meeting to discuss what they'd discovered now, as she had heard from some servants. The urge to eavesdrop was very high but she didn't want to take the risk to be caught through somebody suddenly opening the door or something supernatural like a fairy feeling her presence in front of the door. It was too risky even though she was more than curious about what they had to tell each other. Who knew? Maybe there would even be something useful for them.

Emma bit her bottom lip before she changed her mind and leaned at the dark and cold wood of the closed door hoping she would hear something, but there was nothing. She didn't know if it was weather the wood was too strong or because there had been a spell placed upon it.

She walked up to a staircase that lead to the next floor where the bedrooms of the royals were supposed to be. She was still caring the tray with her. It would be the perfect disguise. If someone would ask her about what she was doing there, she could easily pretend to serve something to drink, since Snow White had asked her to bring it up for later on and if she would accidentally meet one of the royals themselves she would pretend to care about them.

When she reached the hall on the next floor, she noticed that there were no guards at all. She was all alone. There were three doors that lead into different rooms or at least she believed so. One of them had to lead into a turret.

Deciding that a room inside a turret usually was chosen for a girl, she took the door to the right. Sadly, she had been wrong. It didn't lead to the prince's chamber. Emma guessed this was the one of the royal pair. She closed the door behind her back and froze when someone suddenly said, "may I help you?"

The woman's voice sounded angry and strong. Emma could almost feel the drilling gaze of hers between her shoulder blades, as she wondered how this woman had even managed to sneak up behind her like that.

Even though she was quite surprised, she tried to stay calm and balanced her tray carefully, as she turned to face the woman. She was a little smaller than her, her hair was brown and she was wearing a coif that was covering almost all of her hair. She was dressed in dress with white top and brown skirt. On top of it she was wearing a white apron. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, as she stared her down with her grey eyes. She almost glared at her like she had caught her doing something bad, before her eyes wandered to the tray in her hands, while Emma's attention got caught by a pirate sneaking into the room right across this one behind the woman's back right in this moment. As he disappeared from her view, Emma looked at the woman immediately before she would notice something.

She was sure she hadn't covered her surprise to see Hook with her bag in his hands, sneaking into this room at all. Hopefully the maiden had misunderstood it as a reaction to her sudden appear behind her back.

The woman's eyes narrowed as she expected Emma's attire, "who are you? I've never seen you here before."

She had just two options. First, she could throw the tray at her and knock her out before she would be able to scream, but the falling tray would already be loud enough to draw attention in this huge castle where it would echo loudly through the halls at this late hour. And second, she could just lie like she had planned to in the first place even though she had a bad feeling about that woman. Her instincts were warning her, that it wouldn't work. Something about the way she was looking at her, was giving her goose bumps. But if it would work she might be able to join Hook unless she would decide to keep an eye on her.

"I'm new", Emma said as she hoped in a shy voice and blinked resisting the urge to take another look over her shoulder to check the door Hook had just disappeared through. Something about that was making her angry even though she couldn't place a finger on it yet. For that she was too caught up in her current situation now.

The woman seemed still to be skeptical when she said, "nice dress you have there."

"Thank you."

"What are you doing here", she asked like she was just curious.

"I was told to bring something to drink here", Emma lied right into her face.

"And you brought wine", she said surprised, "didn't anybody tell you that the majesties haven't drank anything but water ever since the prince disappeared?"

"No", Emma said and she didn't even need to pretend to be nervous anymore. Maybe she would need her first option anyway.

"You are lying", the woman stated and destroyed all her hopes of her plan working after all. But before she could do something the maiden said, "you don't need to. It's okay if you wanted to get to know the castle better. Tomorrow is your first day, isn't it? It must be since I haven't seen you the entire day."

Emma let out a breath, "it is. I'm sorry for lying to you, but I was just so nervous about tomorrow so I simply grabbed this tray and wandered through the castle. It'll be so much easier to start tomorrow if I already know the rooms."

The woman nodded slowly and looked at her dress again, "and where did you get that dress?"

Emma decided not to pretend it was her own. The maiden's reaction had been too strange, when she had seen it, "someone gave it to me when I arrived this evening. I didn't have the time to unpack yet and I was wet from the rain earlier."

Emma waited for her reaction, hoping she would believe her. It had rained earlier, when they had reached the bridge they had been hiding at. It was good to wind some truth into a lie. It made the lie more realistic.

"I don't envy you", the maid suddenly said and explained when she noticed Emma's reaction, "you must know this dress belongs to Hillary."

"Who is that?"

"She is the foster-mother and she won't like you to wear her dress at all."

"But if I explain it to her-"

"She won't care", she interrupted her, as she took the tray out of her hands and entered the room to place the carafe of water and the two glasses on a side table, "she isn't the type of person to care at all."

"You don't like her", Emma stated and watched her walking to the bed to make it ready for the night.

"No", she said pulling back the bedspread and folding it carefully, "no, I don't. Even though I might be the only person in this castle." She froze and stared at Emma, "please don't tell anyone. It would cause me trouble."

"I won't", Emma said honestly since she would never have the opportunity to do so, "but why do you dislike her so much?"

The maiden sighed and pushed the pillows to loosen their feathers, "she took my job. When she arrived here I was the one being responsible for Henry…sorry…Prince Henry of course."

Emma leaned back at the doorframe and watched her curious, "what happened? Did you do something wrong? Did she make it look like that?"

"No", the woman looked up to her, a sad smile on her lips, "she is more…wicked than to do something like that so openly. No, she just convinced everyone she was better than I."

She sighed again and walked around the bed to sink into one of the chairs standing beside the side table she had placed the water on before, "I don't know how she did it, but suddenly everyone seemed to like her and even the majesties trusted her more than me, even though I had made my job well ever since the prince had been born."

"What did he think about this", Emma asked and wondered what might have happened that Snow White and Charming would stop trusting their foster-mother.

"He didn't like her."

"Are you certain", she asked thinking that she might be talking out of jealousy.

The maiden almost jumped back to her feet out of excitement, "sure I am! He said he didn't believe her anything and he was afraid of her. He told me himself."

"Did you tell his parents about it?"

She breathed away tears suddenly appearing in her eyes and picked up the tray from her the side table, "yes, I tried once. But they didn't want to hear it. Even Henry couldn't convince them. I'm so worried for him."

She walked up to Emma and stared her down again in a sudden switch of emotion, "you must not tell anyone."

"I won't", Emma repeated.

She wasn't convinced, "I shouldn't have told you. As soon as you meet her, you won't care anymore but just tell her."

"No", Emma tried to convince her and let her through, "I assure you, I won't."

The maiden stared at her for a long moment, "I want to believe you so badly. It would be so great to actually have someone to trust here. But I've got to be careful and I don't know you enough yet. So if you tell her, I'll tell her about the dress and believe me, if I do, nobody will want to work with you again because she will hate you for it." She disappeared down the hall and the stairs without paying any more attention to her.

Emma watched her, insecure about what she should feel and think about her. On one side, she wasn't certain, that she had always told her the truth, especially not if it came to Snow White and Charming. It just didn't seem to match to everything she had heard about them that they would simply listen to a woman talking bad about another one. But the thing about the prince not liking the new foster-mother seemed to be true and wrong at the same time.

Emma felt awful since she didn't know what to think about this. She just couldn't divide the truth from a lie in this sentence and that had never happened before. Was it because she felt sorry for her? If it was true and she really was the one being treated unfair like this, than she was a lonely fighter in this castle and not just her but everyone would be in trouble here. Her reaction to all this in the end was just natural, because she definitely seemed to be desperate.

But she had been thinking about the foster-mother before, too. This Hillary had been the first person who had noticed the prince was missing and if he really had been taken right out of his bed, then the possibility was high, that she even was the last person who had seen him at all. If the prince really had been scared of her, which belonged to the thing that had been strangely wrong and true at the same time somehow, then she really was something.

Emma walked up to the door Hook had sneaked through and entered Henry's chamber. It was a very light room with huge windows but no balcony. To her right was a huge bed, besides a door that might lead to the dressing room. To her left was a sitting area with a rocking chair and a bookshelf. And everywhere were lying around toys just like the prince had left the room seconds ago. It looked like nothing had been moved ever since he had disappeared.

"Hook", she whispered into the room since she couldn't find him anywhere and searched the room once again, "where are you?"

"I'm surprised", he said to her right suddenly standing beside the bed his arms crossed in front of his chest, "I didn't believe you'd make it here."

"Obviously", Emma said coldly, "or you wouldn't have come up here, would you?"

He smiled charmingly and made a gesture that involved the whole room, "do you notice anything?"

Emma let her gaze wander through the room once again until it stopped at the bed. She came closer carefully making sure that she wouldn't stumble over a toy lying to her feet until she was standing right beside the bed.

"Why the bed", Hook asked and leaned forward to take a closer look from its other side as well.

"Don't act dumb", Emma said looking into his eyes shortly before she pointed at something lying on the blanket, "you've already noticed that, haven't you?"

He stood straight again, "it's some kind of dust. Look's like ashes."

"What now", Emma asked and looked at him.

"Well, there is nothing that would proof it wasn't…her."

"But there isn't anything telling otherwise as well, is there?"

"I've checked the whole room while you were chatting with that lass", he shrugged, "nothing."

Emma took another look around and her eyes focused on the sitting area in front of a fireplace. There were ashes lying on the floor and something was blinking between the burned logs in the hearth of the fireplace. They had been cold for a long time now.

"Did you notice that", she asked and walked p to it once again avoiding the toys on the floor. Hook followed her, she could feel it. She kneeled down and searched through the ashes until she found what she had noticed before.

It was a ring with an engraving at the inside. It was golden and quite big for Emma's hand. She turned it around to read what was written there, "and heads shall roll."

She looked up over her right shoulder and met Hook's eyes, "what does that mean?"

She knew that he knew the answer. She could read it in his eyes and he wasn't too pleased with what they had just found out. Emma stood up again caught between the fireplace and him. To look over her at the ring, he had placed his hand on the mantelpiece to steady himself while leaning over her before. Now that she was standing again, he had changed his balance but he was still too caught up in his thoughts to let go of the mantelpiece again. He was closer than arm's length since she didn't want to step into the ashes, so she wouldn't leave footprints because of it later on.

"That means, Regina was right", he said slowly in a dark voice, "which means, we have to break into her mother's castle and search through it."

Emma looked down at that ring in her right hand and frowned. Why did he think of Cora if he saw its engraving? The witch was famous for reaping out hearts and not for cutting off heads. She felt his gaze directed at her face before she saw it. When she looked up again he was frowning, "you doubt it anyway."

"I don't know", she said honestly the evidence lying heavily in her hand and the story of the maiden battling with it in her thoughts.

"Why not?"

"What makes you think of her if you see that", she asked curiously since she couldn't understand the connection between the ring and Cora at all. Somehow she just couldn't shake off, what the woman had told her about this Hillary the foster-mother so maybe that was her reason to doubt it.

What was more problematic for her about this was that Hook had noticed it just by looking at her within seconds. How was he able to read people like that? She would never understand it and somehow she envied him for it.

If she would have been able to do it nine years ago, then she wouldn't have ended up betrayed, imprisoned and in need of Graham's help. But most likely she had to be thankful for it since she met Graham and spent the maybe happiest time of her whole life with him. Graham had been very important to her and she had to be thankful for him and everything he had taught her.

Nevertheless it would be useful to be capable of it now, since she had to cope with Hook and his crew. Even though she could divide his lies from the truth most of the time and by his men even easier than with him, she never was certain if she really was right in the end and if she'd know him better and more easily just like he did, it would be less dangerous for her to be around him.

"That's a way too long story now, Love", he stepped back again and made his way to the dressing room, "check if the hall is free so I can leave again, would you?"

Emma looked down at the ring again, before she shoved it into a pocket of the apron around her waist and balanced through the toys back to the door. They would need to discuss several things by the time they'd come back. She definitely wanted to know why the first person to come up in his mind had been Cora when he had seen that ring. And they had to discuss and consider what that maiden had told her about the foster-mother. If it really was true that Henry didn't trust her, then it was possible that she was involved in all of this, too.

"Don't forget my bag", she whispered in the doorframe. He held it out of the dressing room dangling from his hook, "have it."

Emma smiled as she left the room and entered the hall. She looked up and down the hall when she noticed the third door on this floor. It was old and somehow it made her curious. She gave in to the urge to open it and walked up to it to do so. It was like the door had a strange power over her, just like it was calling her, pulling her closer with invisible strings attached to her legs and arms. Her hands started to tickle with the urge to open it to take a look inside. She couldn't explain or even understand where this need to open it was coming from at all, since this room had nothing to do with their problem of the missing prince. It was just a door to another room on this floor. She didn't know what was inside and she shouldn't even care about it. But still she couldn't stop herself. It was just like the room was causing an inner need for her to open it and look inside. It was like she had been cursed with it, so she would sneak inside, so she couldn't stop herself from doing it.

"What are you doing", the voice of a woman suddenly asked from behind her. She stopped her hand already lying on the doorknob, when she came back to her senses. Emma turned on her heels expecting another maiden standing behind her, since she didn't recognize her voice as the one of the woman from before and froze, when she noticed who it actually was. Why did she have to meet her of all people? Why couldn't she be lucky? How should she explain this to Hook if she'd get back to the Jolly Roger? How should she get back to it at all?


	10. Chosing a path

10. Choosing a path

Emma bent down in a curtsey and waited, staring to the ground until she would be allowed to stand straight and look at her again. She was a little afraid to be discovered if she was honest. Everything had worked so well that it would just be annoying to be caught just because she hadn't been carefully enough but curious and foolish, so she had stumbled right into Snow White's arms.

"I'm sorry", she said right away with a nervous voice she didn't even need to act out.

"Who are you", Snow White asked politely and curious and allowed her to stand up again. She looked at her like she hadn't expected her to bend down at all. She looked at her face for a long moment, obviously trying to remember who she was. She frowned as noticed that she wasn't able to.

"Emma", she said without thinking it through, her name simply popping up in her mind, "my name is Emma, my majesty." Had she been too honest now? At least she hadn't spilled her last name. It would have given her away for certain. The question was for what? For being the bounty hunter Swan, chasing down even the cruelest culprits or for being the bandit Swan, stealing everything and disappearing before anyone even noticed she had taken something? Her past was still haunting her after all.

Snow White was starring at her like she was seeing a ghost. It took her a moment to snap out of it whatever it was she was thinking about after hearing her name. Emma had no idea what could have caused her confusion.

Just like she didn't understand why she suddenly started to excuse herself like a little child being caught searching through her mother's stuff hoping to find a birthday present for herself because she was just too curious to wait until it would be given to her, "I'm new and I wanted to make myself familiar with the castle. I'm sorry if I was about to enter a room I shouldn't have or if I came into this floor without permission, my majesty."

The Queen blinked before she smiled at her, "it's fine. If you want to I'll show you. But I've got to ask you not to touch anything. And don't be surprised. It'll be very dirty in there since there hasn't been anyone who had entered this room for twenty-seven years now."

"Why not", Emma asked before she could stop herself and wondered what could be in there.

Snow White seemed to be embarrassed to admit it, "it was too painful, I guess. And in the end we just wanted to leave everything the way it had been."

She didn't wait for another question of Emma, but simply opened the door and walked past her entering the room. It was strange but suddenly Emma was afraid to enter the chamber that was inside the turret. She was nervous and couldn't understand why at all.

Slowly she turned around and looked inside without entering the room while Snow White lit up some candles. Dust was moving around her. It was lying so thick that everything the candles' light toughed seemed to be grey. She noticed that this room was an old nursery. There was a cot, a closet, a rocking chair, toys, small puppets looking like a knight and a lieutenant to both sides of the cot, a mobile with little unicorns and for some strange reason, she couldn't understand at all, there was a wardrobe in the shape of a tree trunk right beside the cot. Behind all that was a huge glass door that lead to a balcony. She could seven see the moon's reflection on the surface of the sea.

Everything seemed to be so familiar that it was frightening. With every candle Snow White lit it got worse. Emma suddenly had a picture of a room in her mind bathed into a warm light, birds playing in front of the opened door to the balcony, puppets to both sides of a bed looking like a navy-man and a knight and that strange treelike wardrobe.

She stepped back before she knew what she was doing at all. She wanted to escape Snow White and even more that room she didn't dare to enter anymore now. She wanted to banish those pictures showing up in her head like a strange dream.

Luckily Snow White was so caught up in that room and lightning it up that she didn't notice how she was slowly stepping back. It took her several steps to calm down again, but it was just Hook pulling at her arm that made her turn her back at the room and Snow White. She blinked for several times, before she finally looked at him.

He seemed to be worried and quite stressed when he took her arm and lead her down the staircase she hadn't seen before. She was still too caught up in her trance, so she barely noticed that this had to be the way he had taken up here. There were no doors and the way was barely light up, since nobody usually used it at this hour. It had to be the way for the servants, but it seemed nobody usually used it, since Snow White and Charming were fine with them using the normal way through the castle.

Just when guards suddenly started to shout after them, Emma really snapped out of it. She took a short look back when Hook already pulled her along again, "bloody hell, would you just concentrate?"

Emma freed her arm, "go ahead."

They ran down the staircase to another floor and hurried across the hall to reach the next one. When they were close to it, guards suddenly ran up the stairs. They placed strikes at them with their swords, yelling, that they should give up. Hook fought them back as good as he could, but there were just too many of them, when the ones who had been following them down reached them. Emma pulled a wall hanging from the wall and threw it at them. It flew and buried them underneath it, so they had a hard time to free themselves again.

Hook wrapped his hook around her wrist and pulled her down the next staircase. She barely picked up her package that he had thrown to the floor as soon as he had started to fight the guards. It was annoying she couldn't help him with that, because she couldn't reach her knifes. Her sword was safe at the Jolly Roger where it couldn't be of any help for them. They reached the next floor and as new guards ran up to them, Emma wrapped his arm around her neck and started to scream, "Help, he is trying to kill me."

"What", Hook snapped and stared at her in disbelieve.

"Play along", she growled trying not to move her lips too much, before she yelled for help again.

Hook noticed the guards stopping to run for them, insecure of what they should do now and pulled her along backwards, "you better listen to the lass, guys. I'd be highly disappointed in you if I'd need to kill her."

The guards stopped and watched them approaching the next staircase waiting for a right moment to attack him like a cat stalking a bird. They didn't want to harm Emma since they really believed her to be a victim. Her plan was working just fine for them. That was until they stopped in front of the window to the hall.

The guards she had stopped with the wall hanging upstairs ran down the stairs screaming, "stop them. They are both the burglars."

The guards in front of them stared at them in confusion, while Hook changed their posture and looked back over his shoulder, so the hair at the side of his head caressed her cheek.

The guards suddenly decided to attack and jumped forward, but before they could even cut one of them, Hook jumped back through the window, pulling her along by wrapping his hooked arm around her waist. Glass broke and flew after them, but didn't cut them, since Hook's coat was protecting him and he was holding her as close as his arms were protecting her as well. She was caught in his arms like in a cage and their faces were safe since they jumped backwards.

They flew through the air, without any safety-net or even seeing where they would end up if they'd hit the ground, while the guards were looking after them in disbelieve. Suddenly they stopped flying and hid something soft that caught their fall and pushed them up a little, before they finally were lying on a carriage filled with straw.

Emma let out a breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding and freed herself out of Hooks grip. She came back to her knees and ignored the straw sticking into her bare legs underneath her skirt. She looked at Hook who was still lying on his bag, breathing heavily, his eyes closed.

"Hook", she asked afraid he could be hurt badly enough to die, "Hook."

He coughed and opened one of his eyes to grin at her, "worried for me, Love?"

She threw straw at him, "idiot." Then she jumped back to her feet and pulled him up as well. His coat had saved him from getting cut and the back of his head was just fine as well, since he had made a humpback, as he had jumped back.

When Emma jumped off the carriage it became noisy again, because the guards left the castle to run up to them once more. She stared at them for a short second in which Hook followed her down and pulled her along again. They ran back through the between portal that parted the main castle from the small town in front of it surrounded by the outer wall, before they could let down the grate and cut off their way.

Hook and Emma rushed down the street where the horseman had almost noticed them on their way inside and ran up to the small portal for the fishermen where two of their pirates were already waiting for them. They held free their backs and fought off the guards, walking backwards across the bridge, until they could reach their boat, where Base was already loosening the ropes, through which their boat was tied to the little island.

Hook jumped inside and held out his hand to her, when she lost her package and stopped to pick it up. He yelled something at her, but she couldn't understand it. She ignored it, slipped across the wet ground and fell right into his opened arms, when Base grabbed the paddles and started to move them.

The two pirates dressed up like guards left on the island jumped into the water and swam after them until they could stop and pull them on board as well. They were safe as long as nobody would start shooting arrows at them.

* * *

It was strange to be back in here since she had started to avoid this room ever since Henry had been born. She hadn't done that because she had stopped to care about Emma or because she had forgotten about her first born child, but because she had been too caught up in raising and protecting her second one against Regina until last year. She had been too focused on keeping him close to her because she had been afraid of loosing him as well. How ironically that it had happened twice now anyway.

But all that hadn't been the only reason for her to avoid this room. It had been too painful to come in here knowing that her daughter was and might even have grown into a woman despite the curse locking everyone in time since Henry did as well. It had been too painful even after all those years passing by, because she was still wondering if Emma was all right, if she was happy and healthy and if she even was still alive.

For those past years she hadn't allowed herself to wonder about Emma growing older without her or already being dead because she had been killed or because there hadn't been anyone to take care of her in a proper way, if there had been someone at all. She hadn't allowed to herself of all the things she had missed with Emma but had experienced with Henry like the first laugh, the first word, the first smile, the first steps, her first cry because she had hurt herself and all the other things. And she hadn't wanted to burden Henry with any of this as well.

Sure, they had told him of Emma when he had become eight. He knew that she was missing and that she had disappeared right out of her bed when she had just been born. They had told him how much they still loved her and that they had done everything in their power to find her. That had been all, since they didn't know anything more about her, but that she was supposedly fine.

Snow took a deep breath when she lit up the candles in here. It really was dusty in here but the room had lost nothing of its influence on her. It was still magical and beautiful. And somehow she wasn't as sad as she had been once when she had entered it before. Maybe the reason she had decided to come back in here was comforting her as well.

It was the maiden's name that had encouraged her to come back into this room again, the name of her daughter so suddenly mentioned, that had given her strength somehow. Maybe it indeed was comforting her?

She didn't care. With every candle she lit up something of her old strength seemed to come back to her again just like it had been lingering in this room waiting for her to come back and fight for her family and her happiness once more.

And besides that there was something about this maiden sharing the same name with her lost daughter that was attracting her to her. Or was it the girl herself? She turned around to look at her expecting her to stand shyly in the doorframe as new maidens usually did when she had noticed that they had been doing something wrong, but she wasn't there anymore. She walked up to the door and found the hall was empty again.

Where had she gone? How had she disappeared all of a sudden the way she had shown up before? Had she been so caught up in her memories that Emma had decided to leave her alone? Had she simply imagined her?

"Snow", Charming ran up to her grunting like he had been running for a while now and froze when he noticed where she was standing. He stared at her standing in the doorframe of a room that hadn't been entered by her for such a long time enlightened by a lot of candles.

"What happened", she asked worried now and left the nursery behind to walk up to him.

"That's actually what I wanted to ask you", he said slowly and stared at the room behind her with an open mouth, before he placed both of his hands on her shoulders, "are you okay?"

Snow looked up to him in surprise. She was a little confused, "I guess, yes. Why do you ask?"

She noticed him shortly looking at the nursery behind her back.

"I'm confused", she admitted before he could ask her about it, "there was a young woman, a new maiden and she wanted to enter Emma's nursery and somehow I suddenly wanted to go inside myself. I started to light up the candles and when I turned to look at her, she was gone. And now I'm wondering if I just imagined her."

"Maybe you didn't", Charming said slowly without looking at her. He was still too focused on the room in her back that he hadn't seen ever since they had stopped searching for their daughter.

Snow White stared at him in surprise, "did you see her as well?"

"No", he finally met her eyes, "but the guards noticed someone sneaking around in the castle and are trying to track them down now. Amanda said she had noticed a man sneaking around. He seemed to have used the old way for the servants."

Just like they wanted to proof him right, they heard noise coming up the stairs that reminded them of a fight. It was as noisy as you could think they were in a war.

"What was that?"

Charming sighed, "the guards are trying to catch them."

Snow stared at him for a long moment until she finally understood. "You think they wanted to steal", she asked worried and rushed to Henry's room afraid they could have taken something from there.

"Or they wanted to cover their tracks", Charming said and followed on her heels, "they could have been the culprits since it was so easy for them to get up here."

Snow scanned the whole room. There wasn't anything she could notice that was missing or had changed at all. Everything looked exactly the same but if Charming was right, they would have taken something they hadn't noticed before at all.

She stopped beside the fireplace and noticed ashes on the floor right in front of it. She frowned and looked at Charming who was checking the dressing room. She could see him standing in the doorframe and waited for him to say something.

"One must have been standing here", he bowed down to pick something up and smelled at his finger, "here is a drop of alcohol."

"Do you remember if there were ashes in front of the fireplace?"

He walked up to her surprise shining through his eyes, "what could they have wanted there?"

"I have no idea", Snow said suddenly afraid all of them could have missed something important before. But she had no idea what this could possibly be.

Charming looked at her slightly worried as he noticed how tense she was, "what is it?"

Snow swallowed. She knew she didn't need to explain her thoughts to him. She was kind of embarrassed that she was still holding on to this after all she had just found out, "she said her name was Emma." Now that she had said it, she was surprised to notice how much it actually meant to her. She had never expected it to be that important to her.

Charming let out a breath and looked at her like he was sorry for her. She could understand it and in another situation she would have felt cared for, but right now she just hated it.

"What if it was our Emma? What if she came back and…had to leave again? Maybe she was forced? She wouldn't know about us", she almost cried. She wanted it to be true so badly, but she already assumed that she was wrong.

"Or the thief was just using our memories to distract you", he said gently, "it could have been an evil trick, Snow."

She didn't want to believe that he couldn't hope for it as well, "have you given up on her?"

"No", he defended himself, "I'm just trying to see all options. Snow there could be thousands of people with exactly the same name out there."

She didn't like what he was saying. But he had a point there.

"But she gave me strength. It was because of her that I entered Emma's nursery and you know what? I'm not feeling lost and caught up in my fears anymore but I can hope again."

He walked up to her to take her in her arms before he said, "in that case there might have been at least one good thing about their break in."

She kissed him tenderly and cuddled into his hug, knowing that he just said this to support her even though he didn't believe her. It felt like in old days when they had supported each other like this, fighting against Regina and King George.

"If you're going to make out now, I'll puke", Regina entered the room as they drew apart again, "the guards didn't catch them and I came back here to late either. What did they take?"

Snow stared at her, "weren't you with Robin fighting the ogres?"

"That was just an illusion. I took care of it", she rolled her eyes and looked around without touching anything.

* * *

Emma barely paid attention to the orders Hook made to his men, as they hurried across the water or as they carried their boat across the small road that lead right through the ocean. She was too lost in her thoughts to care about any of it even as they came back on board the Jolly Roger. She didn't care about his commands to set sail, but simply took her package and went back to their cabin.

She knew she should use the moment to change back into her own cloths she had protected so badly, but she wasn't in the right mood. The moonlight shining through the windows at the heck of the Jolly Roger was just too matching to her current mood. She walked up to the windows, stopped in front of them and stared out of them, her arms crossed in front of her chest like she was supporting herself.

She barely noticed Hook entering the room and demanding to know what was going on with her in that castle. He kept talking, waited for her answer, which didn't come and continued scolding her, because she had risked both of their lives through talking with Snow White and walking up to that bloody room. He wanted to see the ring once more, so she fished it out of her apron and gave it to him without looking at him, what angered him even more. He kept scolding her, asking if she was nuts and had just forgotten to tell him about it, until he stopped yelling and sat down in the chair right behind her as if he was exhausted.

Emma kept thinking about all this. She remembered every second of her conversation with Snow White and she was scared of her reaction to it. She couldn't understand it and she didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted to breath until she would be calm enough again to think of something else.

"What the hell was wrong with you there", Hook asked once more after maybe half an hour, but he wasn't as angry as he had been when they had left the castle or when he had entered the room anymore. He was sitting at the desk behind her, his back turned on her and the window while he was inspecting the ring like he was hoping the words on it had magically changed or disappeared in the meantime. If Emma wasn't mistaken, he was as caught up in it as he didn't really pay attention to her anymore at all. His anger had vanished into his own thoughts and worries.

She was glad about it. It allowed her to make up her mind and think about what had happened with Snow White and that strange room before, now that she was ready to think about, without sharing her thoughts. It had been so intense and still she had no idea where this feeling of familiarity or even the images of this room, when it would be clean had come from at all. It was confusing. It frightened her.

"Swan?"

So he hadn't been as distracted as she had wanted him to be. Too bad.

"I don't know", she finally said in a low voice and kept starring out of the windows. Even in the dark she could see the waves and their white cups moving and it was comforting her more than she would have ever believed it to be possible.

"Good to know you risked our lives for nothing", he said sarcastically.

"Why don't we talk about you knowing about a way up to the right room that wouldn't be as watched as the one I had to take", she turned around to finally look at him. She was sick of hearing his questions about something she couldn't answer and of being reminded of her mistakes over and over again. She didn't want to think about it anymore and she for sure didn't want to tell him about it.

Hook finally put the ring on his desk and looked at her, like he wasn't impressed at all, "you should be glad I didn't or I couldn't have followed you up unnoticed and then you would have never gotten out of there again after screwing up like that, Love."

"Seriously", she snapped back, "weren't you the one wasting our time by searching through the servants' rooms because you wanted me to split up with you in order to draw everyone's attention, so you could easily reach that damn floor? And wasn't it you who screwed up because you were noticed by the guards? I made it up unnoticed."

"We'll never know if they noticed me and not you."

"Strange, I heard them yelling "there he is", as they ran up to us."

He suddenly grinned at her, "I already wondered when you would finally be normal again, Love."

"What", she asked and stared at him confused.

"I knew you hadn't lost your fire", he reached for his flask, pushed off its cork and took a sip, "but it was almost gone."

Emma stared at him in confusion, but she ignored what he had just said, "why didn't you just tell me about your plan instead of tricking me into it? We had a deal remember?"

"Had?"

"I'm not the one who broke it."

Hook sighed, "I didn't tell you everything because I knew you wouldn't agree to it."

"So you decided to act like an idiot instead? Good decision, just too bad it didn't work the way you wanted it to."

"But we've found the evidence we wanted and we're still alive and free, aren't we", he pointed at the ring that was still lying on the desk.

Emma walked up to it and picked it up to take a closer look at it once more. The words were clearly written on it and they hadn't changed.

Hook watched her carefully, "what is it?"

She looked at him wondering what he actually meant. He read her face, "come on, Swan. I know something's up. What is it?"

She frowned and focused on the ring again, "I just don't believe it is hers."

He raised an eyebrow, "it is hers, Swan."

"How do you know that", she asked seriously and wondered about his history with Cora once again.

"Unimportant", he surrounded the desk and opened the door to shout for Smee before he continued, "fact is, I do know."

Emma looked at him as he stepped back from the door, so his first mate wouldn't crash into him, when he'd enter the room, "why aren't you telling me?"

"It's none of your business and since it's got nothing to do with our deal, I won't tell you."

Emma couldn't believe that. Was he serious? They were about to take on a woman who was powerful and hated him enough to hunt him down because of the past they obviously shared and it didn't have anything to do with their deal? She was supposed to risk her life and he didn't even want to tell her why?

"So risking my life by getting involved with you and fighting… her-"

"We won't fight her, we will just steal a kid back", he interrupted her.

She wasn't pleased at all, "come on, you don't really believe that yourself. If she really kidnapped the prince she won't just keep him without making sure he can't escape or be saved and if that's the case, we will have to fight her. So risking my life because of her has got nothing do with me? You've got to be kidding me."

"I thought you didn't believe it was her", he said smartly and walked up to her again.

"Just earlier you mentioned how dangerous it would be to enter her "space of influence" so it doesn't matter if she is the culprit or not. If not it'll be even worse, since we'll risk our lives for nothing and we'll waste more time searching for him."

"So you're just afraid of her", he took the ring out of her hand and raised an eyebrow. He was challenging her. He thought if he was acting like she was a scared little girl he could make her do it anyway just like he had manipulated her in the castle before. Too bad it did work.

"I'm not", she stated growling, "I just want to know who we are up against."

"Are you talking of taking on Cora now", Smee who had just entered the room unnoticed asked from the doorframe. He was surprised to see them standing as close as they were now fighting like they hadn't been doing anything else for ages.

His sentence wasn't fully finished when they already stared at him like he was a ghost, being suddenly as silent as they were able to hear the men walk around on deck.

They exchanged a short glance, worried about the curse Cora had placed on her own name to find Hook, before they pushed him aside and ran up the stairs leaving him behind totally confused. He felt like he had missed a part of their conversation even though they hadn't said anything he hadn't heard ever since he had entered the room.

"Do you see something", Hook asked searching the sky for any flying fireballs directed at them or ravens aiming for them.

"No", she answered doing exactly the same just to the opposite direction, before she ran for the railing and searched the ocean, "nothing."

Emma turned to look at him again after a moment of silence where nothing changed about the silent night only being interrupted by the sound of the ocean below and around them, "do you think that curse is broken?"

"Why would she do that", Hook asked skeptically, "she still wants to hunt me down."

"Maybe she just got sick of it and doesn't want to anymore."

"She isn't the person to forget her vengeance."

"Just like you", she asked before she could stop herself and watched him.

He ignored her, "I don't believe she would give up and take back that curse unless she's got what she wants."

"Which would be your head on a silver tray?"

"Indeed", he almost grinned, "but I doubt she would be pleased if it was just silver."

Emma frowned as she walked up to him again, "and why the hell did nothing happen when Smee said her name?"

Hook took a look around while he took her arm to pull her along and answered her in a whisper, so his men, who looked at them in surprise since they had entered the deck so tense and Emma was still dressed in the maiden's dress, wouldn't hear him, "I don't know. But I'm not planning to find out about it, so better don't use that name."

Emma followed him back to the captain's cabin allowing him to pull her along. She couldn't understand why the curse hadn't done anything now. But Hook already had a clue. He didn't say it out loud but his thoughts were running wild trying to remember if Graham had ever said something about a woman helping him. He couldn't think of anything like that. But depending on what Regina had told him about it and what he had just seen himself the only solution to this was, that Emma had been involved in the destroyed curse and what had happened back then. He decided to change the subject before she would pick up those questions and ask him about his past with Cora again, so he would be able to think everything through when things would have calmed down again and he could do it calmly and carefully, "why do you doubt it was her?"

"What?"

"Why do you doubt…Regina's mother took the prince", he closed the door behind her and signed Smee to wait, before he crossed his arms in front of his chest and watched her. It was more difficult to avoid Cora's name if you used it in your thoughts all the time. And it was strange to avoid it since you never knew if the person you were talking with understood who you were talking about.

Emma slowly shook her head. It took her a moment to think of this again now all of a sudden and she couldn't understand why he didn't want to discuss or find out about why the curse hadn't worked or at least why nothing had happened.

She finally sighed, walked up to the desk and searched for the ring, "where is it?"

Hook held it out to her with his hook where he had pinned it up. She took it off and held it up, "because this is quite too obvious."

"Is it?"

"Indeed", Emma said looking at the ring for a second before she raised an eyebrow, "why would she leave such evidence behind?"

"Maybe it was accidentally", he stepped closer to her, curious of what she was thinking and totally forgetting about Smee who was still waiting for his orders.

"This is a ring, Hook, not a hairclip. You don't just lose rings especially if they have in engraving", she walked up to him enforced by her excitement since she just new she was right, "and what about the ashes on the bed? That doesn't make sense unless someone wanted to make sure we would find it."

"Maybe Regina's mother placed all this herself so she would be found out."

"And why didn't anyone else find it then", Emma asked skeptically, "why had it to be us to find it? I'm certain there have been a lot of people who searched that room before us. That doesn't make sense, Hook. No matter how you look at it."

"And what does make sense to you", he asked slowly avoiding to admit that she had a good point there.

"The foster-mother Hillary. She is manipulating everyone and she could have been perfectly able to take him without anyone even wondering why she entered his room. She was the last person who saw him and the first one to notice that he was gone. And she could have easily placed this wrong track."

Hook sighed. There was a problem with this theory, "and how did she get him out of the castle without anybody noticing it? How should she even have gotten the ring?"

Emma took a deep breath like she was about to give him the answer to that and let it out while taking a step back. She looked to the side in disappointment about the hole in her theory and was frustrated that she hadn't found the answer to that yet, since deep in her heart she just knew she was on to something, "I don't know. Maybe she just took the way you did?"

"With an eleven years old boy without anybody noticing it?"

"She could have simply hid him in the castle to bring him away later on."

"That's not likely", he said softly, "and we still don't know how she could have gotten a hold on that ring."

"But Regina's mother leaving such evidence behind is", Emma asked skeptically.

"Maybe she wanted to be discovered to lure Regina out and provoke her to confront her about Henry", he said slowly and tried to ignore her disappointment, which was hard, since she was still dressed up like a woman. She was beautiful and seemed as soft and vulnerable as you could easily break her with the wrong word.

"And why didn't anyone notice it before we showed up? They would have discovered it easily. The track was too obvious to be unnoticed especially if you're searching for a hint on why how and to where your own son disappeared to."

And again she had made a good point. It wasn't matching. He could see it as well. But still, "and you expect this Hillary to have created that track?"

"I don't know…maybe", she said insecure since she couldn't explain neither how she could have taken the prince and even less where she could have gotten that ring. She met his gaze. He was looking at her like he felt sorry for her. She needed to be certain, "yes."

"No matter how often we think this through, we have to start somewhere", he finally stated, "and I guess we should start with Cora, no matter how strange it is."

Emma looked at her hands and bit her bottom lip, "what…"

"What what?"

She looked up to him again, "what if Henry's missing and the ring have nothing to do with each other?"

Hook walked up to her again confused of what she was saying now, "what?"

She stepped forward either and looked straight into his eyes, "what if Regina's mother has placed the ring just recently so Regina would believe it had been her and would come to her. She could have found out about the missing prince and she could want to use the situation to her advantage."

"That's a little too much "what if", Swan, don't you think", he placed his hand on her left shoulder, "look, no matter how we look at it, we need to check on her. We can't leave out the chance that it really was her and that she just placed the track later on herself. That would be another possibility, too."

He watched her for a moment and noticed her disappointment. She really believed in her theories, but even though he wished to do it as well, so she would smile again, he knew they had to check Cora. He frowned. Why did he even want her to smile? It had to be the dress, nothing more.

He stepped back and walked up to Smee who had been waiting in a corner of the room just like he had wanted him to and signaled that their conversation was over. He knew she wouldn't be defeated that easily. For that there was too much of a pirate in her and she was too though. So he hurried to say, "Mr. Smee remind the crew that this one particular name is forbidden on my ship or anywhere near it and around me unless they want to die a horrible death and it won't be me to make that happen."

"Aye", the first mate said guiltily aware of the fact that he had just been scolded by his captain, "the name of Regina's mother is forbidden. I'll tell them, Sir."

"And bring me the mirror", he demanded, "and make sure there won't be any disturbance. I've got to do an important conversation", he turned around to Emma who had crossed her arms in front of her chest and watched him calmly. Too calmly if he was honest, "what?"

"This is wrong", she simply stated.

Hook sighed, "I'd be grateful if you'd just remain silent while I talk to her."

Emma shrugged, "fine. But you should tell her about this Hillary. If we find out that you've been mistaken and something happens to the boy because you didn't warn her she might want to make you suffer for the rest of you life if she won't just be the one to kill you."

Hook pulled up a corner of his mouth to put on a grin, "one could think you were worried for me, Love."

"I'm not", she answered without hesitation, "I'm just warning you."

"There are worse things than that", he said and his grin vanished.

"Maybe. But what makes you certain she won't think of those as well?"

He was speechless. The answer was "nothing", but he didn't want to say it out loud since he would need to explain to her, why it would still be meaningless to him. He had better things to do than this when Smee brought the covered mirror.

He watched her picking up her package and leaving the room. She didn't want to be around when he would talk with Regina. Maybe it was better like this.

Emma entered they galley and closed the door behind her. She knew that none of the pirates would dare to enter this room, if they wouldn't want to listen to Blake's ranting and the young pirate would be too shy to spy on her. She was safe in here.

She could understand Hook's decision, but she wasn't fine with it. What that maiden had told her about the foster-mother was just too present in her thoughts. Sure, she had her doubts about it, but it seemed to be more possible that this Hillary had been involved in the kidnapping of the prince than a ring of a powerful witch suddenly appearing out of nowhere in a room with almost obvious directions to it.

No, if they would check the witch's castle they would most likely ran into a trap.

* * *

"Is there something new", Robin asked as he entered the room where everyone was already gathered at the round table.

"We've found nothing", Snow answered disappointed and stood up, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Something about her had changed. Had he thought her to be weak, lost in her sorrow and without hope before so she seemed to be glowing of strength and hope now. To see her like that made it easier to believe that she had been a thief once before she had gotten her happy ending. Well, at least she had gotten in in regards of her true love. Happily ever after on the other hand didn't seem to work out so well. Maybe you just couldn't get both? Maybe your luck was used up after getting one of both? He could only hope that he was wrong about this.

"What about you? Did you find something", Charming asked and brought him back to the presence leaving his dark thoughts behind.

"Nothing", Robin answered, "the guards at the fisher-entrance just reported that there had been three of them. Two changed roles with them and one stayed with a boat. It was just when they tried to escape the guards that they even noticed the fourth man and the woman at all. They couldn't even tell us, how they managed to sneak up on them unnoticed."

"Is that everything", Ruby asked curiously. She was standing behind her grandmother's chair like she was taking care of her but he knew it better. This old woman was stronger and more skilled in protecting herself and if necessary others than her looks would have made you believe. Little John had had to discover this the hard way a few days ago. He had been aiming in the forest to get them something to eat, when she had hunted down a rabbit right underneath his nose even though he had claimed it to be too far away to shoot it. It had been funny especially when he had started to argue about it with her and she had simply knocked him out. Maybe she was still able to do such things because she was taking care of her granddaughter? Who could have possibly believed Ruby to be a werewolf? Seeing her like this now it was unimaginable. But even though he hadn't seen her turning into a huge wolf yet he still believed what others (including Ruby herself) had told him.

"I'm afraid it is", Regina entered the room behind him and walked past him without paying any attention to him at all, "I checked the fireplace. I've found nothing about them nor about Henry. What ever it was they've been doing there they didn't finish it."

"What makes you believe that", the Blue Fairy asked floating above the table all dressed in blue matching to her name. As far as he had gotten to know her she was kind and knew exactly what she was doing and what she was talking about. But in regards of Regina she always seemed to lose her kindness. Instead she was mean and sarcastic towards her, as far as he was concerned.

But why did he even care?

"I know it", Regina said slowly and mighty as she approached the table, "because there has been nothing they could have taken. I checked Henry's chamber for several times before someone broke into the castle and I didn't notice anything. There was nothing."

"Are you sure", the Blue Fairy asked again and Robin was already guessing something bad to come the way she was asking it.

Regina crossed her arms in front of her chest, "did you notice something? You checked that room as well, didn't you? When Henry disappeared you were there before me because you didn't want to give me the chance to destroy evidence."

"I had my reasons."

"So tell me", Regina surrounded the table until she reached a free chair, "how should it be possible that I destroyed tracks so nobody could find anything?"

"There is still the possibility that you found something you don't want to share with us", the Blue Fairy said icy and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I think we should stop blaming each other and finally start to work together", Jiminy Cricket said through the megaphone placed on the table in front of him like always. The thing seemed three times as big as him.

Regina ignored him, "and why should I want to do that?"

"I don't know. There are several reasons if you ask me. Maybe you just want to protect your mother because she kidnapped him for you? Or you took him yourself and you're trying to make sure we won't find out", the Blue Fairy said slowly and it seemed as she was finally letting everything out she had been swallowing the whole time, "or you just don't want to share your information with us so you can find him and have him for yourself."

"Blue", Cricket said slowly and nervously already feeling what Robin was easily seeing in Regina's face, "we already discussed this. You didn't find any evidence for your accusations."

"But we didn't find any proof against it, too."

"I'm not keeping anything fro myself", Regina said icy now. She had turned pale and something dark had appeared in her eyes. Actually was this the first time he could believe that she indeed was the "Evil Queen".

Robin slowly walked up to them. He wouldn't pick a side and he wouldn't say anything in this matter. He wasn't stupid enough to break his highest rule of never picking a fight with a magical being as in a fairy or the Evil Queen. But still… A part of him felt like he should help Regina after all, while the other half of him was telling him that she didn't need anything like help even though he was sure that her strength and her bad mood were just a mask covering her pain.

When they had found out the ogres had just been an illusion he had met a completely different Regina. She had loved what she was doing and she had enjoyed knowing what she was talking about. He had seen how happy she had been to help without being scolded or distrusted all the time.

"No", the Blue Fairy asked skeptically and more sarcastic than he had ever heard her talk before, "and what about this pirate? Didn't you ask him to check on your mother?"

Regina froze and her face became pale, but she didn't say anything. She stared at the Blue Fairy like she had never seen her before.

"Why didn't you say anything about that", Snow White asked more curious than angry and looked at Regina like everyone else. But he couldn't see any shock in her eyes, nor anger or distrust.

"We don't even know if it's true yet", Cricket tried to help.

"We do", the Blue Fairy stated, "I know it."

"How", Cricket asked curiously and looked at her.

"One of my fairies found out about it."

"But we don't know why yet", Cricket stated through the discussions that had started around the round table. He was still trying hard to believe in Regina and to convince the others to do it as well.

Regina stood up and everyone was silent and stared at her like she had cast a spell on them, "I'm not sure my mother did it. Hook owes me something and is able to sneak into a witch's castle, so I asked him to check on her."

Robin swallowed. He knew that she hadn't just asked him. She had made a deal with him, of which he didn't know all parameters yet.

"Hook", Charming asked surprised and unfavorably, "Captain Hook?"

She ignored him, "it turned out he needs my help as well, so I made a deal with him. He is searching for Henry just like every other person you guys asked for help and you didn't tell me about everyone neither."

"You can't possibly compare a rotten pirate to soldiers", Blue disagreed.

"You didn't tell her about me", Robin pointed out before he had even decided neither to say anything nor to pick a side, "I ran into her and then she found out."

Regina stared at him for a moment just like she hadn't noticed him before at all, which was possible judging the way she had just passed him before. Jut like he had flipped a switch with his thoughts she looked at Snow and Charming again, "I didn't say anything yet because I didn't want my mother to find out about it accidentally."

"Are you saying someone of us could be a spy", Grumpy asked angrily and came to his feet. He was short compared to Charming and him, but there was no doubt he could be quite dangerous.

Regina held up her hands in defense, "all I say is that she had her ears everywhere. Despite that I'm still not certain that she is involved in any of this so don't get your hopes up and definitely don't stop searching everywhere else. We would only lose Henry if I'm wrong and if I'm right she might notice something."

"Why should we believe you this now", Doc asked shyly and looked at her with big eyes.

"Because she is telling the truth", a female voice suddenly answered as a small fairy became visible. She was dressed in pink; her dress was sparkling just as much as Blue's and her brown hair was bound up in a formal hairstyle. She seemed pretty nervous and she avoided looking at Blue, "I know she is telling the truth."

"Nova", Blue said shocked that the fairy wasn't helping her.

"Nova", Grumpy on the other hand just stared at her in surprise and there was something in his eyes that told him, the dwarf had feelings for the fairy.

They exchanged a short glance and Nova's cheeks turned red, "hello, Happy."

"It's Grumpy now", he almost stuttered a little embarrassed.

"How can you be so certain about it, Nova", Cricket asked politely after a moment of silence in which everyone was looking at them and they simply exchanged nervous but interested glances like little kids falling in love for the first time.

Nova swallowed and looked at Cricket, "I've been watching Hook lately and he really is trying to find Prince Henry. He's got help and this help will be kind to the prince. They are taking a big risk by sneaking into the Cora's castle and Regina promised to help them to distract her. But if she'll notice anything before that, there won't be chance they can succeed at all. So Regina is right. Cora mustn't find out about any of this."

Regina stared at the fairy in disbelieve and instead of thanking her she criticized her, "you were spying on me?"

Nova seemed to be scared, "no. I'm spying on Hook."

"Since when do fairies help Pirates", Grumpy asked a little jealous as it seemed.

"I'm not helping him. I'm trying to help everyone he might harass", she explained herself more stubbornly now. There had to be more between those two than he knew. Something complicated maybe?

"And what now", the Blue Fairy asked annoyed and ignored their troublesome relationship while Regina walked up to the door.

The witch let out a breath and turned around to them even though she had already opened the door, which she was holding on to now, "now I'm going to make sure my mother won't kill Hook when he tries to find Henry. Would be bad to lose someone as useful as him before we have him back."

"Does that mean you're going to take on your mother now", Snow asked surprised and for the first time it seemed like she cared for her stepmother ever since Robin had seen both of them together.

Regina shrugged, "who else could do it?"

He didn't know why he said it. He hadn't even thought about it in the first place, but still he did. At first he didn't really understand the meaning of his own words at all. He didn't think that was the only explanation he could come up with. Why else would he offer to risk his life without thinking of his own son and what should happen to him if he wouldn't survive?

No matter what the reason was in the end he couldn't change anymore that he walked up to her saying, "I'll help you."

For sure there was the thought that she didn't need his help and that there couldn't be anything he could do in a fight against a witch at all, especially after seeing her reaction.

Regina raised an eyebrow skeptically and looked him up and down, "how could you possibly help me?"

"You helped me with the fake ogres, I owe you. And you never know what or who she could come up with", he shrugged and walked up to her, "besides that the Blue Fairy won't interfere and trouble you, if I'm with you", he added in a whisper when he was close enough to her so she would hear it.

She frowned and looked up to him, "you can't. You have to think of your son. He needs you more than I."

And that was the moment he didn't care about her past the way he had done it before anymore. It was the moment he stopped believing in all the bad stories about her, but started to trust his own feelings and assessments about her. And it was the moment he understood why he had made this offer and accepted it as right.

She was wearing a mask again to hide what she was actually feeling. She was acting tough and unreachable but in the end she was just scared. She was scared of her own mother and he didn't want to find out why because he already assumed it to be an awful reason. And at the same time she was afraid to find out that it really was her mother being at fault for the kidnapping of the prince.

"We will take care of Roland", Snow White suddenly said from behind him, "you don't need to worry for him." If he wasn't mistaken then the Queen was relived Regina wouldn't go alone.

Regina turned her back on him and left the room, "I don't need your help. You'll only get in my way."

"And still I'm joining you", he said following her after nodding at Snow to thank her.

"This is not a field trip, Hood. She might just kill you", Regina pointed out, "she doesn't like poor men."

"No?"

"Actually she loves to kill them", she said and there was something in her voice that send a chill down his spine. There was more to her words than she actually told him.

"Just good I can protect myself", he said even though he knew it wouldn't be true if he would have to fight a witch, "and I'm not important enough in this to actually be worth to be killed by her."

Regina sighed and held out her hand for him. He frowned and took it not understanding what she was up to now at all. A purple cloud surrounded them as she said, "to be with me will be reason enough for her to kill you."


	11. A place like home

11. A place like home

"Rule number one: if you travel with a witch the way a witch does, keep your mouth shut and hold your breath", she said and walked past him, while he regretted she hadn't remembered him earlier. He had breathed in some of the smoke and now he was coughing as hard as he got tears in his eyes having to push up himself with one hand on his leg. But he hadn't been too caught up in this to overhear the smile in her voice when she said it.

How could he blame her for being amused of his mishap, when he could have prevented it, if he would have just remembered the last time he had done it? Maybe he would never get used to this way of traveling. It was just too fast, too dark and way too smoky.

"What now", he asked as soon as he noticed that they were back in her castle. But unlike the last time he had come here, she hadn't taken him into the small yard with the apple tree but directly into her room.

She didn't answer him but walked up to a mirror hanging on a wall to their right. She looked at it for a long moment just like she was waiting for something, but still she didn't say anything.

"Do you really believe this to be the right moment to check in a mirror", he grinned and tried to light up her mood. It didn't work. She was just too tense. He could see it in her expression, her movements and even in her eyes, while she looked into that mirror.

"Scht."

"Why are you upset", he asked curious. He wanted to know the words of the others had hurt her more than he had expected them to.

She sighed, but didn't turn to look at him, "why did you come with me?"

"I already told you", he answered a little surprised. He hadn't expected this to be the reason. Shouldn't she be glad to have someone to keep her back free?

She let out a breath, "you said you wanted to help me."

"Yes. And it is true."

Regina finally turned around to him, "isn't it more like you want to make sure I won't betray you guys? I'll tell you something: you're not here because you want to help me, but because you want to control me. And you know what? I don't need that. You're wasting your time with this."

He noticed the hurt expression she was looking at her with and understood that she was sick of everyone coming back at her for her past. However, it didn't change anything. She had done what she had done and she had to live with it and its consequences. She couldn't possibly blame anybody for not just forgetting about it.

Blue and her harsh words came back into his mind. But maybe they had never stopped to remember it. Maybe they kept reminding her all the time and never even believed it to be possible that she really had changed.

He wanted to tell her that he really wasn't here to control but to protect and help her as far as it would be possible for him, when there was something moving in the mirror behind her. He frowned and stared at it, wondering what could be in there or if he had just imagined it.

Regina noticed his reaction and turned around to it again, "so?"

"Nothing, my Queen", the mirror answered and he couldn't do anything but stare at her back curious of who she was talking with now. But he couldn't see anything since she was covering up the mirror perfectly.

"Where is he?"

He wanted to ask her if she always used mirrors to have conversations like others used letters, but he stopped himself already knowing that she wouldn't like it and that it would only worsen their relationship.

The mirror answered her, "he is back on board the Jolly Roger now, but I can't see him. The ship's magic is protecting him again."

Regina sighed in disappointment, "as soon as he takes it you call me."

"As you wish."

He stepped closer to her and noticed a man's face in the mirror before it vanished again. He was still starring at it, when she turned to look at him. Who the hell was he? And why was he in the mirror? Unlike Hook the other day this man definitely seemed to be part of it. There had been no background, no sounds besides his words and the way he had vanished again had been totally different as well. It had been more magical somehow, than it had been with Hook.

Robin met Regina's gaze and noticed her worried expression before she covered it up and was the unreachable queen again. But he knew that the person he had just caught a glimpse of was hiding just under the surface of this mask. He decided not to ask any of his questions and turned on his heels to see the rest of the room.

It was a tower chamber. Everything seemed to be colored in black but there was no light at all so he couldn't be certain about it. Regina hadn't changed anything about the furniture since their last very short visit here, when they had discovered that someone was playing with them using a spell that created ogres.

There was still the dressing table with all those little flasks and vials and the strange ingredients she used for her spells. Then there was this mirror besides an open hall to who knew where. Right beside it was a golden door that looked noble but showy and possibly belonged to a wardrobe.

"What now", he asked surprised that they hadn't just went straightly to her mother's place, since he had expected her to already have made a plan with Hook even before he had broken into Snow White's castle.

Regina walked up to the dressing table passing a red chaise lounge and started to search through those strange bottles, "we can't just show up there. We need to coordinate with Hook or it'll be pointless to distract her at all.

"What's with that mirror", he finally asked now that he knew in what kind of mood she was in.

Regina looked over her shoulder for a second before she continued to search through her belongings while saying very slowly, "he's an old friend of mine?"

Robin frowned, "did you do that to him?" If it was true than he didn't want to find out what she was willing to do to her enemies. Well, after everything the dwarfs, Ruby and Granny had told him, he might already have a clue, but up to now he had always questioned it.

"I didn't", she stated after a moment of silence without stopping to continue her search and sounding uninterested, "he did it himself by wishing to be always with me. Neither of us had thought he'd turn into a reflection, but he was around me ever since."

"But how is it possible if you didn't do this", he asked and stepped closer to her. He already had another question in mind, one that was more important than this once, but he needed to know it.

Regina finally stopped and turned to look at him, "he was an imprisoned genie until my dead husband freed him. And before you ask: no, I didn't try to free him. He's quite useful for me and maybe the only company I have in here."

Her explanation sounded good, but he wasn't stupid enough to be fooled by her, "and why did he wish to be around you forever?"

She suddenly concentrated on her work more than ever before. She double checked vials and opened bottles to smell at them instead of simply reading what she had written on them.

"Regina?"

She looked up to him in surprise. She stared at him for a moment and then she sighed, "I manipulated him into it." As she noticed his expression she continued, "yes, I was the Evil Queen. So every story you've heard could be more than true. And you know what? I'll never pretend I didn't do anything wrong. I'll never pretend to be a sheep dressed as a wolf. I stay to my sins."

They stared at each other for a long moment before he gave up and decided to change the direction of their conversation again, if they really wanted to work together against her mother anytime soon. He didn't need to appreciate anything of her past nor how she handled what had followed her from it. His highest goal was to find the missing prince, nothing more and nothing less. But he had to admit, that it troubled him a lot, "what are you doing there?"

"I'm searching for the ingredients I'll need to get my mother here", she answered after a second of inspecting him and his mood. She obviously understood his decision or at least she didn't continue their previous discussion anyway.

"Why do you want that? Why won't we go to her", he asked surprised since it would be much faster than to bring her here.

Regina took some small bottles and placed them together so she would easily find them later on before she turned to look at him, "because it would be a mistake. When I became the queen I send her away to another land so I would finally be free from her. She ruled that place. She turned bushes into a labyrinth that would "eat" you alive if you'd get too close to its walls and cursed the whole place so you wouldn't die if she'd cut off your head. Do you really think I would want to fight her on her terrain?

"That sounds awful."

"Just figured you should know who we are up against."

"And what did she do to you?"

Before she could answer the mirror called for her and she walked up to it to talk with Hook who appeared in it replacing the genie's face. He didn't have good news. Robin wasn't sure for who of both it was worse, for Hook who had to break into Cora's castle or for Regina, who had to accept that her own mother was harming the boy she loved like her own son and that she had to face her now in order to get him back?

Robin waited until they had agreed on a plan, until they had stopped to argue and criticize each other. He waited until the mirror just showed her reflection again, since the genie didn't show up once more, even though he disliked what he noticed about her.

During their conversation it seemed like Regina completely vanished. The woman he had watched for several days now vanished to a place where he couldn't find her anymore. The woman being excited about her abilities and being invested into something good, because she actually wanted to help was gone. Instead of her there was suddenly standing an entirely different person. Where was the woman who had put his son first instead of herself, when it had been about him helping her against her own mother or not?

Now she was cold and somehow dark. She had vanished into something like a creature without any feelings or conscience. She appeared to be like a machine that just worked, but didn't feel or think. And her thoughts on the other hand, which he could imagine because of the ideas she mentioned while talking with the pirate about her own mother and how to deal with her, were as darkly that he couldn't even imagine she was still the same person as the woman he had decided to help.

Robin walked up to her slowly. It was like his feet had developed a life of their own and almost automatically brought him closer to her. He didn't want to see her like this. He had to do something so she would finally allow herself to have feelings again.

The mirror was dark, but she was still standing right in front of it, so he couldn't see her face and her expression. That changed when he finally reached her. She looked like she was despairing and he was surprised that he hadn't looked right through her façade. So in the end he had been fooled like everyone else, hadn't he? He should have noticed her troubles even without seeing her face.

But he couldn't understand why, if he thought about it more carefully. Why of all people should he have noticed it? Because deep down his soul he had always believed to know her better than anybody else, because he had felt connected to her somehow.

He stopped thinking about it but reached for her shoulder to gently place his hand on it to support her. Regina winced before she snapped out of her dark thoughts and met his eyes in surprise. It was just like she had completely forgotten that he was even still there with her and had been reminded by him now.

Robin wanted to ask her if she was alright but decided it would be an awfully stupid question. He could promise her that it would get better or tell her that all things just could be a misunderstanding but he knew it wouldn't help her. It would just be empty promises. He couldn't hug her because they didn't know each other good enough and they weren't close enough to not make it strange. He didn't know what to do, because he had never been in that situation himself before what he was glad for.

He decided that there couldn't be any words that would support her and that he'd just have to listen to her. Something at this place told him that there hadn't been many people to really listen to her even though she had needed it definitely.

Before he could offer to listen to her or ask, if she needed someone to talk to, she already started to talk just like she had read his thoughts, "we need to think of a way to distract her."

Robin stared at her for a moment unable to believe how easily she got back to business, "what? Don't you want to talk about your problems first?"

She looked at him for a short moment in which he already expected her to say something like "and why would I tell someone like you", before she finally said, "no." She stepped back from him and walked up to the golden doors he had noticed before, "we can't waste time. Hook will arrive in around two days from today and we need to be there then."

"But-"

Regina finally turned to look at him. Even though she was wearing a mask of coolness, disinterest and insensitivity, he could see sorrow in her eyes. She cut him off, "there is no "but". We have a plan and we will stick to it."

He frowned and walked up to her, "but she is your mother."

She shrugged, "which is why I won't kill her."

Robin stared at her. He couldn't believe that she had just said that. But on the other hand her mother was Cora, wasn't she? Who knew what she had done to her own daughter that Regina was talking like this now?

He looked at her more closely. She was hurt; she didn't want to talk like this herself. She was like a hurt animal attacking to all sides to protect herself not noticing the helping hand, she was offered.

"What did she do to you?"

Regina stared at him in surprise and her mask vanished completely for a moment. There was just woman that wasn't just hurt but scared. A soft woman who might even be sensitive for others, who cared not just for her own wishes but for everyone else's as well. As she noticed his expression to seeing her like this, she turned back to the doors and looked down at her hands on the doorknobs, letting out a deep breath, "what makes you believe that she did something?"

"Why else would you want to kill your own mother", he asked and shrugged, "not to mention that you're obviously hurt."

He voice was strict again, "I just said, I wouldn't kill her."

"But you considered it to be an option or you wouldn't have needed to make such a decision and that's already bad enough. Otherwise you didn't deny that you're hurt", he stopped right behind her and resisted the urge to place his hands on her shoulders to support her, "so I must be right, right?"

Regina sighed and it took a moment for her to answer him, "you don't want to hear that."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because nobody does", she said a little too simple and plain for his taste.

"Well, I do", Robin confirmed, "so why don't you tell me? We've got two days left, you should talk about it, I need to hear it or we can't work together and most importantly: I'm just too curious about it."

She turned around and stared at him for a moment before she actually grinned, "fine then. But remember that you wanted to know."

He placed his right hand theoretically on his left chest right above his heart and stood a little straighter, "I swear."

Now she was smiling. Good. He wanted to see her more often like that.

* * *

He had no idea for how long he already was here, but it felt like months. He never got see anything but darkness. His eyes had gotten used to it as badly as he was already able to easily recognize the walls of his prison around him. He hadn't heard anything just as long as he hadn't seen any light at all and he was certain that he'd be deaf as soon as he would hear the sound of a singing bird. And without the light, there was no warmth in this room, so most of his time here, he spent wrapped up in his thin blanket on his thin mattress on the cold and wet floor.

He missed his mother and his father, but unlike the last time he hadn't spent at home, there was no Regina being there for him. He was all alone and by now he wasn't even certain anymore that he could still use his voice at all. All he had left was his memories of being with his parents, learning dancing and shooting an arrow with his mother and taking care of their horses and practicing using a sword playing around with one made of wood with his father. Eating and laughing with them, listening to his mother's voice while reading out a book to him or singing with him, fighting playfully around with his father in their bed, when he would show up in the morning to wake them, even though they were still too tired to even open their eyes.

And he remembered his time with Regina.

She was one of his best friends. She was part of their family. She was the youngest and greatest grandmother you could have especially since she was getting along with his parents. At least they didn't fight each other anymore.

He could remember spending some of his time with her like it had been just yesterday. They had been sitting in the yard with her apple tree and each time he had tried to pick up one of them that had fallen to the ground, she had let it float so he couldn't reach it, even though he hunted it through the whole yard, laughing like he was insane until he fell into her arms and she turned the apples into bubbles in different colors floating around them.

He could remember her reading books out to him and telling him fairytales about his mother and even though it had been obvious she didn't like her back then, she had never said anything bad about her nor had she told him, why they had been fighting each other all the time.

And no matter what he had asked her for, she had read his whishes from his eyes without hesitation, when he had behaved and obeyed to the rules at her place that included never to enter the yard with that apple tree without her or to sneak into the strange wardrobe with the golden doors in her room.

He missed her but he missed his parents even more. He missed the supporting and tender hug of his mother, when he had a nightmare and woke in a fright in the middle of the night, bathed in sweat, his face wet from his tears. He could have needed this for several times now.

And he missed the supporting and tender words of his father, if he was afraid of something. His father had always been brave. He had been the hero of his life just like he was the hero of his dreams now, while his mother had been his hope.

He just couldn't stop to believe that they would safe him together with Regina. They would show up here, they would take him home and they would be there for him again just like in the past. He could feel it with all of his heart, but his hope… He had to admit that there were times, when he'd wake up and wonder if they'd ever show up again, if they even cared for him anymore. He had doubts, but he had to believe in them.

And each time he felt like that, each time he had to encourage himself somehow, he remembered a dream he dreamed sometimes.

Then he would see a woman with blonde hair and green eyes. She looked out to the sea, watched the waves and the sunlight playing around on it. Even though she was standing with her back to him for a long moment he already stopped feeling lonely and when she finally turned to look at him, he felt loved. He felt warm and loved.

And somehow he just knew she was looking for him just like everyone else in his family, just like he felt his connection to her.

He remembered what his parents had told him about his sister just like it had been yesterday they had mentioned her at all.

They had entered his room. Mom had been first, holding a huge teddy bear in her arms, while Daddy had closed the door behind her back again. They had walked up to his bed to sit to both sides of him, while the teddy had been lying to his feet, where mom had placed it as she sat down. Each of them had taken one of his hands, before they had exchanged a short glimpse like they were agreeing on telling him the whole story.

Dad had started, "Henry, we need to tell you something."

"It's about the room in the turret", Mom had added, "you've been asking so much about it and now that you're finally back home…"

"You're old enough to know about it now", Daddy had continued to tell him as his mother suddenly stopped talking.

"We know it might be hard for you", Mom had said slowly, "but we believe you deserve to know about it. She deserves it that you know about her."

He had looked from one to the other more curious about what they would tell him than ever. He had had tried to enter that strange room at the end of the hall for several years now and he had had never been allowed to do it. He had wanted to know about it so badly that he had barely been able to wait for them to continue their story like a fairytale.

If he was honest then the whole story had been just that for him for a long time, until he had started to dream of her several nights ago. And even though he had never seen her before he just knew she was his sister. He could feel their connection. It was a like strong rope that was reaching through his dreams.

His parents told him how she had vanished after her birth almost seventeen years before his birth. But time was meaningless, since it had stopped for everyone but him and if he wasn't mistaken it hadn't stopped for his sister as well.

They had told him, that Emma had been with them for two nights before the curse it. She had been lively, had laughed all the time and everyone who had met her green eyes had loved her immediately.

But then one night, there had been a thunderstorm. Daddy had had to help the people in the town to extinguish a fire, caused by a lightning that had crashed into a stable. They had saved most of the horses inside and everyone, even his mother, had helped to get enough water.

Emma had been alone in the castle except for her foster-mother, an old woman who had been knocked out by the person, who had taken advantage of their troublesome situation at the stables, to sneak into their home and steal her, without leaving any trace at all.

They had told him, how badly they had tried to find Emma, while Regina had tried to fight them. Even though he hadn't wanted to hear that, he had believed them not to use this as a tool against her, but to tell him about it as a simple fact of their past.

They had told her, that Emma was the savior, that she was supposed to break the curse, of which's extent nobody had known anything back then yet. Nobody had noticed that they had been frozen in time at all back then.

Henry sighed and cuddled into the mattress and his blanket to keep himself warm. He closed his eyes and as he did, he saw his mother in a room he had never entered before. And yet he knew it was part of his home, of their castle.

The room was filled with light as much as it appeared to be golden. There was a door to a balcony through that floated a warm breeze of air. Right in the middle of the room stood a baby crib underneath a mobile with blue unicorns dancing in the breeze.

The crib was surrounded by two puppets looking like a knight and man from the navy. He could even find the teddy bear his mother had taken into his room, when they had come to tell him about his sister.

The only strange thing about this room was a wardrobe that was looking like a tree trunk and that seemed to fill up all of the space left in the room. He perfectly knew what this was. It was the portal tree Pinocchio's dad had made so Emma would be able to escape Regina's curse, just as his parents had told him.

In the middle of the room was standing his mother. She was dressed in a white dress and her long black hair was reaching to her waist and far into her back. He didn't need to see that, to know it was true. Her brown eyes were warm and filled with love, just like he had seen them his whole life. She was just looking like what Regina had told him about her and their past. She was looking like Regina had described her lying in her coffin of glass.

She opened her arms for him and walked up to him, like she wanted to hug him tenderly. And as she came closer her eyes seemed to fill his whole range of vision.

She pulled him into her hug and even though he knew it was just a dream, he would have sworn that he could smell her perfume and feel the warmth of her body.

He cuddled into her hug like he cuddled into his blanket and as he opened his eyes, he saw his dad standing behind her, smiling happily at them, his eyes filled with love. He was leaning over the baby crib, but didn't look inside or he would have noticed that Emma wasn't there.

Right beside him was Regina leaning at the strange wardrobe and watching them. Even though he was certain, she wasn't upset with them, there was something in her eyes that gave him the feeling she was thinking to be out of place here in this situation with his parents. He could see loneliness in her eyes even though she wasn't alone, because they were all together now.

On the other side of the wardrobe was standing a man, he hadn't ever seen before with a little boy clinging to his leg. He didn't look at him, but only at Regina. He knew it, even though he couldn't see neither of their faces, not the man's nor the one of the boy at his leg.

A shadow fell to the boy's feet and caught his attention. He knew who it belonged to, even before he looked up to the balcony. He had seen it often enough to know it. But despite that he could feel it. It was like a wave of love was swapping inside the room touching everyone inside it. It was Emma.

She was standing in the opened door to the balcony, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She was wearing trousers and a white shirt just like in his other dream of her at the ocean. Her blond hair was floating softly in the breeze coming through the opened door and she smiled at them. For some strange reason she was holding a hook in her left hand and kept playing around with it.

But he didn't care about it, just like he didn't care about the man and the boy, even though he was glad that they seemed to care about Regina like his father and him cared for his mother.

Everyone he loved was crowded around him in this room and he knew where they were, there were more people he cared about just close to them. His mother's and his father's friends were always there.

There were Ruby and her grandmother, Grumpy and the other six dwarfs, Lancelot, Pinocchio and his father, Jiminy Cricket, who had always tried to teach him about ethics and morals and the Blue Fairy, who had helped to bring his parents together long before he had been born.

No, he wasn't alone. And he would never be, since he knew that all of those people were searching for him. He knew that all of them were worrying about him and that all of them cared for him, which was everything he needed to know in this cold and dark prison.

As long as he would be able to believe in them and their love for him, he would be able to hope and he would be able to be brave and to love them. He would be able to believe in them.

* * *

Emma crept into her bad. She was upset. As soon as she had come back changed into her own cloths and more than happy about it, Hook had revealed to her, that he hadn't told Regina anything of what he should have told her. She had been as upset about it, as she had spent a while on deck to take a deep breath even though it had already been dark.

Would this night never end? How could a single night be that long?

She was exhausted and she was glad and thankful that Hook just left her be without asking any questions or demanding answers for her strange behavior at the castle again.

She could just close her eyes and fall asleep. But something was keeping her up. She was worried for the decision Hook had made. She was worried for the boy who might have to suffer through it, because they wouldn't find him fast enough. And somehow she knew that she wanted to find him very badly.

At first it had just been about helping Hook so he would be able to work with her faster, but ever since she had been in that castle, things had changed. She had met Snow White and she had seen her longing and sorrowful glance as she had looked at both of her children's rooms that had been empty.

She had always wondered what home would be like. She had always thought it would be place she'd miss more than anything as soon as she'd leave it, but seeing the sorrow in Snow White's eyes up in that turret and that strange old and dirty nursery that had been filled with things and toys so carefully, she had understood what home really was about. It was about the people being with you, caring for you, feeling for and with you, laughing and crying with you.

And she realized that she had already had that, when she had been with Graham. He had been that person for her in the past, but she hadn't protected her home good enough, hadn't opened up to him enough to let him now how important he was to her and so she had become the orphan again, without even noticing that there had been any change at all.

She heard Hook moving in the darkness. He was sleeping and she was just glad that he wasn't one of those men, who snorted like they wanted to cut down an entire wood.

This place would never be anything close to a home for her, because she couldn't trust anyone. Sure the Jolly Roger was nice and somehow she felt connected to her, but the men traveling around on her, the men filling the ship with life weren't anything close to friends and even less to a family.

She couldn't trust them. And even though she had to admit that she trusted Base the less of all of them, she had to admit that it was even worse with Hook. She couldn't understand why she trusted him even less than a pirate who would love to kill her if his captain's orders wouldn't hold him back, but it was an undeniable fact.

Emma sighed and closed her eyes, before she turned to her left. She needed to sleep as much time as she had left of the night, or she just wouldn't survive the next day.

* * *

I hope you liked it, even though it wasn't packed with action.

Have a nice weekend.

Thanks for following or even liking my story and welcome to every new reader.

pinsel90


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